The Hidden Hand

Three guitars carry The Hidden Hand through nine largely instrumental tracks, trading crystalline detail for dense, deliberate weight. Reviewers hear a band returning to its established language rather than reinventing it: “uplifting and bright” melodies are balanced by darker shading, while “crystalline notes and reverb-drenched chords” move between spacious reflection and heavier post-metal pressure. “Moon Machine” and the two-part “Silence Between Mountains” provide the album’s most expansive emotional arcs, with grief, hope, and tension emerging through patient builds rather than vocals.

The record’s strongest moments arrive when the guitars remain melodic and conversational. “Blurry Creatures” introduces unusual choral backing, its voices winding through the band’s layered arrangement, while “Metanoia” holds “hope and despair at the same time,” according to one review. The Aphex Twin cover “Flim” adds a fragile, brighter detour, though the album’s cohesion is debatable: one critic praises its atmosphere and precision, while another finds it a “motley collection of tracks” whose reverb and conventional rhythms sometimes dilute the band’s former magic.