DIESECT - HIDE FROM THE LIGHT (EP Review)

DIESECT - HIDE FROM THE LIGHT
Released: May 30th, 2025

LineUp

Damien Bigara | Vocals & Guitars
Jack Van Rynswoud | Guitar
Tom Hedge | Bass
Jake Camilleri | Drums

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‍“I wonder if that’s how darkness wins by convincing us to trap it inside ourselves instead of emptying it out. I don’t want it to win.”

This is the quote from HIDE FROM THE LIGHT, the brand new EP from one of Greyscale Records' newest signings DIESECT, introduces itself with. Taken from the novel My Heart and Other Blackholes by Jasmine Warga, it’s a brilliant line to set up the thematics of trying to win the war against the dark sides of life. 

From that introduction alone, we are quickly dragged into a sonic representation of an extreme internal conflict. The band states that the songs on the release are in chronological order, documenting an individual's struggle with the darkness inside and this is evident from the first note played. The title and opening track ‘Hide From The Light’ is a display of pure raw emotion, taking the form of a violent wave. You feel the heaviness of the song crash around you, as the screechings from the guitar effects keep you focused on trying to swim to the surface. The moments to breathe come in the form of break beats and the teasing of breakdowns, before whipping you into a frenzy in the form of a catchy as hell beat to two-step to. It picks up again before pummelling you down again with a nasty breakdown that ends with as much force as it begins.

The rollercoaster is not over, it has merely just begun with the second song ‘Too Many Scars’. This fast and furious number has so many moments that catch your ear. An insatiable groove that once again, you will be fighting the urge to two-step too. Our first taste from back in February of this extended release, every listen feels like I’m listening to it again for the first time. There is a sense of desperation behind the vocals, matching the exasperated theme of the lyrics and capturing the urgency of being tired of the hardships of living. It’s something that this band has nailed- creating a mood and inspiring feelings without relying completely on the lyrics to express the intention of the song.

‘Pretty Much Dead’ rolls on forward in the darkness, but slows down the groove and employs that diabolical heaviness. Unlike many bands, they can create a true, powerful wall of sound that captures that feeling of overwhelm without feeling muddy. There are so many effects and sounds hiding within the pockets of this weighted blanket of audio denseness, but not so many that you can make out the intricate parts. There is a coldness and almost industrial quality - both the music genre and motif- wound through, and it finishes leaving you a little on edge. An impending sense of doom starting to manifest in the pit of your stomach (like when you watch a horror movie).

This feeling starts to multiply and as we move into ‘Shura’, another previous single, there is a sense that the character behind the lyrics and themes is starting to embrace the bitterness. That coldness lingers, weaving its way through the music in a way that sounds almost villainous. Saturated with spite, not just vocally but through the instrumentation- it’s giving stuck in a warehouse, standing between a hero and the bad guy…with an offer on the table of unification. There are moments through this EP that start to sound repetitive, but in a way that is kind of necessary, as it adds to the fabric of the story it is following, so it did take a few listens of ‘Shura’ to truly hear its unique moments. Overall, though, it’s just another solid track on what is a gritty and pretty damn stellar release.

Tension is building throughout and it starts to all come to ahead in ‘There Was Never Light’. Setting the mood with a bordering on apocalyptic soundscape, the power punch of heavy that hits soon after is enough to leave you gasping for air. An intense, slow and full breakdown that signifies a true descent into darkness it makes the perfect setup for the concluding track ‘Suffer In The Dark'.

“...with the opening and closing tracks intended to serve as mirrors of each other to convey the final message of the story; if you choose to hide from the light, you in turn will suffer in the dark," tells the band.

If this was the intent, it is executed phenomenally. The mood shift, though from walking the horizon of a setting light and an encroaching darkness, to a permanent black abyss is obvious. The layers of guitars and samples seem to represent those intrusive and dark thoughts, and the earlier groove becomes denser and slower. From the breakbeats to the breakdowns, everything feels sludgier, heavier and more aggressive. As the final moments of the EP fade out, that ever-present sense of doom warps into an emptiness. 

Like stepping out of a rabbit hole, the absence of sound after this chaotic sonic onslaught is evident…until you loop it and start it all over again…. because you cannot simply listen to this release once. 

Rating: 9/10
HIDE FROM THE LIGHT is out May 30th via Greyscale Records. Pre-order/save here.
Review by Kayla Hamilton @kaylazomboid

Revisit our join interview with DIESECT and Melting right here