Band: Holotropic | Album: Individual | Genre: Progressive metal | Year: 2026
From: Bratislava, Slovakia | Label: Independent
For fans of: Anciients, Tool, Cynic, The Faceless
Holotropic is a Slovak extreme metal five-piece that skillfully weaves a base of technical death metal with elements from further afield, ranging from classic prog to ambient to Middle Eastern folk. Individual is their second release, and this short-but-mighty album demonstrates impressive breadth and depth of skill.
“D’Filer” opens with some ragged clean(-ish) guitar that sounds like it’s from some edgy alt-rock track released in 2001. The bass is nice and rubbery, and the vocals are strong. Distortion gradually builds, and before long, it’s a powerful cavalcade of guitar arpeggios and swirling synths in the background. The riffs lurch and hiccup in odd, start-stop patterns, and the vocalist reminds me a lot of Ihsahn. I especially need to compliment the production here. Things are clear enough for me to make out all the elements while also retaining enough grit to give it a grounded, visceral feel.
“Al(l)one” kicks off with a chunky, odd-time riff and some deft, jazzy drumming. This song is intense and in-your-face from the get-go. Stuttering, Meshuggah-like riffs pepper this piece, with the band smoothly shifting from grating abrasive riffs to rather fluid moments of guitar wizardry. There is a ton of weight to this composition, so when Holotropic delves into Cynic-inspired space-jazz, that sudden airiness is that much more affecting. The song’s climax is full of speedy riffage and pummeling percussion, and the growling bass is hardly the star, but it’s clearly there, adding great depth.
Floating, slinking, lightly Middle Eastern-tinged synths hum gently before “fRiction” (their stylization) explodes in a maelstrom of tech-death riffs. I again need to compliment vocalist Vladimír Mikuláš. Both his harsh and his clean vocals are powerful and emotive, easily on par with some of the best singers in this sphere. The band displays a strong ear for melody, and it is adeptly balanced against their heavier and more experimental inclinations. Following this, the sub-two minute “out-with-in” acts as a breather, with Middle Eastern instrumentation and electronic percussion.
This short record ends on the three-part, 11-minute title track, stylized “in_dividual”. The first part, “Animal” bursts forth with explosive prog-death riffs. The guitarwork is meaty and muscular, and both growls and clean singing are deployed effectively. Musical ideas are constantly shifting and evolving, and transitions between different sub-movements are smooth. In this first part’s second half, Middle Eastern scales and melodies are integrated in a way that feels natural and not simply tacked-on, like many acts happen to do.
Part two, subtitled “Lamina”, features a fantastic, slightly-distorted sax solo that feels like a brilliant spiritual successor to David Jackson’s often-harsh playing with Van der Graaf Generator. This instrumental section is exhilarating and serves as the climax to the whole record.
The third part, “Anima”, acts as a mellow, palate-cleansing outro. Airy synth pads lend a slightly-eerie formlessness to the backdrop for some narration. This is maybe a hair long, and I certainly wouldn’t listen to this on its own, but it makes a lot of sense within the context of the whole release.
Individual is a thrilling album, full of spectacular instrumentalism, intelligent and forward-thinking songwriting, and plenty of surprising turns and internal variation. The way the band manages to so excellently blend their tech-death roots with alt-rock, jazz, Middle Eastern music, and classic prog makes me very excited to hear what they can do in the future.
Score: 90/100
The Elite Extremophile 