Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio, we’ve been listening to The Things We Hide’s latest single, Opposite Side Of Love. For fans of progressive melodic metal, this one is for you.
Italian band, The Things We Hide, describe themselves as ‘an eclectic, multi-genre musical collective with a twisted obsession for experimentation; our songs typically deal with the dark side of love stories, dysfunctional relationships, toxic behaviours, abuse survival and loneliness.’
We knew we were in for an exciting ride when we read this, and when we saw that this is a 7-minute song, we settled in, ready for an exciting journey.
The song fades in on synths and bass with percussion and has a slightly industrial sound to it at this point. It feels cinematic and exciting.
When the vocals come in, we were instantly reminded of Kate Bush: they are very gentle and sweet, with superb control in the head voice. As the song progresses, we caught a few hints of Paula Cole here as well. Two very classy vocalists.
It is gripping that all of the aggression in the track comes from the guitars. At no point during the entire song are the vocals aggressive in any way and we love that about this band.
The reverb on the kick drum is long and cavernous, making it feel almost like rumbling thunder in the background. This all adds to the tension and the excitement. Some heavy crunching guitars take the lead for a while before dropping back into a section with some beautiful layered vocals which come to a close with a distant overdriven filtered echo. The whole time, the song keeps you on your toes and you have no idea how it is going to go. It is compelling and bursting with different sections which all keep the listener completely enthralled throughout.
A guitar solo leads into a breakdown with piano and some haunting vocal sounds with some glorious major/minor clashing notes. This builds back up into a long instrumental section without a specific solo instrument, but which utterly holds your attention.
Closing with a super-fast and technically proficient and accurate Richie Sambora-style guitar solo, this is a track created by a band of highly skilled and creatively diverse musicians. The 7 minutes just flew by.
Ideas from our ears
A boost around 70Hz would add some extra thickness to the low end and bring out the thunderous reverb on the kick drum sounds. To our ears, a small cut around 3kHz would reduce a slightly harsh tone on some of the guitar parts too. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
For fans of Industrial metal and prog rock, you simply have to take the time to listen to The Things We Hide’s single, Opposite Side Of Love. Melodic metal at its absolute finest.