Keor 'Hive Mind Reboot' Review

Updated: Dec 26, 2019

A review of the new reboot of the Keor album 'Hive Mind' which will be released on September 1st 2019

Keor is a musical project by Victor Miranda Martin, in Montpellier, France. 'Hive Mind' was Keor's first release, and the bulk of it was recorded in two days in a friend's basement. Victor was very young when he first created 'Hive Mind', with some material being back from when he was 16, and the rest going up to when he was 18. The reboot of Hive Mind brings new life and energy to the album. If it didn’t grab you the first time around, it certainly will now.

Firstly, I want to start off by talking about how on point the entirety of Keor’s ‘image’ is. Similar to bands like Thank You Scientist, Closure in Moscow, and Bent Knee - they have a style, and an image. Keor is the same, consistently. The artwork, the titles (particularly in Hive Mind’s case) set the tone for not just the album, but the musical identity of the band. So well done Victor for making not just music, but an experience and an image.

The name ‘Hive Mind’ already foreshadows the direction of the album. A dark, hallucinogenic crusade into an army of chaos. And while Hive Mind is certainly richer in these sinister moments compared to the previous release ‘Petrichor’ it still manages to deliver on gentle, beautiful melodies and harmonies. The fact that Victor manages to exercise this powerful gothic sound, while never neglecting the softer side to his music shows true diversity and consideration, a great quality when creating such elegant music.

This diversity can be seen in the slight differences between the two albums Petrichor and Hive Mind. While both share a similar, natural sound, Hive Mind sounds more mechanical and engineered (not just in the sense that some of the instrumentation is programmed), whereas Petrichor sounds a lot more isolated and like you’re out in a beautiful forest. The easiest way to describe it is Petrichor feels like a fantasy, whereas Hive Mind feels like a psychological thriller. This difference gives each album a distinct character, while having a similar vibe, they stand out with their own personality. In fact, Hive Mind reminds me of ‘Green Valley’ (Puscifer) in all the right ways. It’s chanty, it’s ritualistic, it takes you outside into the occult woods, the entire thing feels like you’re constantly moving further into the point of no return. It’s truly chilling and hypnotic at times.

Hive Mind was (and still is) greatly ambitious, especially as it was first conceived at such a young age for Victor. It’s fascinating, to me, the way Hive Mind was the beginning of Victor’s musical journey (as Keor) and helped him learn/develop into writing Petrichor, and ironically, the creation of Petrichor let him develop further, helping him to revisit Hive Mind. So in a way, Hive Mind re-inspired itself, and it’s remaster is a way to finally do it the justice it deserves, this time using professional standard techniques as opposed to the original “friend’s basement” setup that Victor used to record the album.

After being re-mastered, Hive Mind generally lets each instrument have its own space to thrive, and outshine others at certain moments, while also retaining the chaotic and ‘busy’ sense of the first master. The first thing that stood out to me (both times) when listening to Hive Mind is how incredibly different Victor’s voice is to Petrichor. It’s incredible, Petrichor does have some harsher, more rough moments, but in general the vocals are more delicate and smooth, whereas Hive Mind is given a totally new depth by the way Victor sings, his voice is darker and more aggressive (to the point where I had to think twice about whether is was indeed Victor singing). An obvious inspiration for the vocals would have to be Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) with Victor often sounding like he is pleading, or praying, something I often get from the harmonies in Alice in Chains.

‘Welcome Song’ kicks off the album with a sinister tone, almost like there’s an evil carnival, taunting you and mocking you, luring you into your doom. It grew on me a lot with the remaster, which is probably biased as I personally love songs that have a repetitive build, but this track in particular has something hypnotic about it, be it the vocals, the instrumentation, or a mix of both - there is something unsettling and intriguing about Welcome Song, that keeps me going back for more.

‘Destruct’ is the second track, with a similar tone to the first. However, Destruct is more in your face and outright heavy. The rhythmic guitars are unapologetically sinister, adding to the ritualistic vibe that the rest of the song gives off. It’s a weird analogy, but the way I see it is Victor (as the vocals) is being lead to a descent into madness by this ‘evil force’ (the instrumentation). Overall, both track 1 and 2 act as a brilliant introduction, and I can’t listen to one without the other.

‘The Grand Quagmire’ follows on from Destruct. This track is more hazy and melodic as opposed to solely rhythmic. There are some great vocal effects applied here, combining this with the execution of a rapid chant, you have yourself another sinister cult song. Although, the vocal effects serve more of a purpose than that, they make you feel fatigued and subdued, unable to move. It does pick up around a third into the song, moving into the ritualistic groans of ‘Staley-esque’ vocals, and a climatic build, leading back into the familiar guitar thrum . Thankfully, as is with Petrichor, Hive Mind pulls off consistency and a constant similar sound throughout all of its tracks without repeating itself. For example, ‘The Grand Quagmire’ has a simple percussion section, overlaid with arguing melodies on guitar, this stripped back section lets you take a breath from all the dirty rhythm and vocals so far.

‘Harmonices Mundi’ has an interesting opening. Nothing heavy or sinister to be heard, just Victor, a looped melody and beautifully touching harmonies. It’s a prime example of how the album can overload and strip back at just the right times, and following on from the first 3 ‘busier’ tracks, Harmonices Mundi shows off the more ‘delicate’ side that Keor can offer. Even then, this track still ventures into a heavier spiral halfway through. It has an awesome guitar solo that leads back into a slow build. This quick switch between heavier and lighter makes the album seem bipolar, like it doesn’t know what it is. This new section to the song is reminiscent of a hymn, and feels like something out of a Fleet Foxes song. The track leads back onto the descent into madness, breaking us away from our cathartic, peaceful break.

‘Machine Breath’ brings a new perspective to the album, a new tempo and speed. The opening is comparable to some Metallica songs. I really like the simplicity of this song, it isn’t nearly as disorientating as the previous tracks. The repeated drumming and riff adds a previously absent element of stability to the album. Although there’s a really cool fractured section in the last quarter of the song that reminds you how unpredictable Keor can be. The last seconds of Machine Breath, leading into Interlude I, is really unsettling, as you can hear (and this is the only way I can describe it) - literal ‘machine breath’. Thanks Victor, I won’t be in a hurry to sleep again tonight.

At last! Birdsong! ‘Interlude I’ is like the warning that pops up on Xbox ‘remember to take a break, you’ve been playing for 2 hours’. This serene bird song takes you out of whatever dark pit you find yourself in and places you beside a beautiful pond.

Oh but if only it were that simple! Interlude I has other plans for you. Instead, you’re taken on a melancholic stroll down a murky, but oddly charming path. Despite the more depressive tones in Interlude I, there are certainly moments of beauty, almost to the extent of being holy and divine, and it is without a doubt far less intense than the other songs in the first half of the album.

‘Home of Mysteries’ returns to the normal pace of the album. Though through the familiar, almost distressed vocals, there is a glimmer of hope. This track feels like a welcome home banner after a holiday away (the holiday being Interlude I) except this holiday banner is both pleased to have you back, but also sinister and seems like it wants to absorb you into the same ritualistic cult that was chasing you before you went on holiday. In all seriousness, Home of Mysteries does have some new tones within it, switching up pace and intensity on the fly. It seems like the melodies within it can function both as a host to the lighter parts and darker parts to the song, remaining constant, while everything else changes around it.

If the name ‘Dead Tree Seeds’ doesn’t inspire a little bit of childhood-related haunted-house-in-the-woods fear into you, I don’t know what will. Despite the name, the song is charming and enchanting. The tempo and vocals make it feel as though you are sitting by a campfire, being told a tale by a traveler. The harmonies really carry this song, as well as the mixture of instrumentation - there isn’t a time where I lose track of what’s going on (unlike Destruct or Home of Mysteries). There is a moment of Deja Vu, with a callback to the vocal patterns in ‘Destruct’. This actually reminds you of how far you’ve come in the album, what you knew at the beginning of your journey is left behind, and now all that matters is getting out the other side of this psychological minefield.

‘Oblivion’ is a nice instrumental. It’s well placed and really strangely reminds me of a classic bond intro theme. That aside, this track is hypnotic and heavy in places. A nice little interlude.

‘Egregore’ has a nice acoustic opening, and the dual set up with Victor’s vocals is very similar to Harmonices Mundi. Though this time, the sound is a lot more natural, and feels more exhausted and defeated. It’s probably the most ambient of all the tracks, incorporating a plethora of sounds from nature (including a birdsong like in Interlude I). This feels like the real break we need in the album, aside from Interlude I, it’s the only escape from the ups and downs of darkness in Hive Mind. The last acapella section brings memories of a similar section in Haken’s ‘Crystallised’.

‘Interlude II’ is another ambient track, with wind chimes soothing you into another birdsong. There are reflections of Interlude I here, both bringing about the same emotion - a confused, untrusting sense of safety and security.

‘Raven’s Eye’ is pretty jarring, and is one of the more heavy songs right from the start. The instrumental intro is really catchy and infectious. Raven’s Eye plays with the combination of ritualistic vocals and chaotic instrumentals to create a threatening and menacing wall of sound. Contrasting with the earlier songs, it now sounds like the vocals are ‘on the same page’ as the instruments as opposed to fighting against them, as was previously the case.

Raven’s Eye leads seamlessly into ‘Status Quo’, an ambient instrumental outro to the chaos that has just taken place.. It seems like a true light at the end of the tunnel. The entire track is slow, delicate and gentle. Like a calm after the storm. It’s a brilliant, contrasting way to finish an album with such menace and anger.

I have drawn a lot of comparisons and metaphors during my review of Hive Mind, but it must be said that this is a highly intense and emotionally charged album, much like Petrichor. While Petrichor seems to be about catharsis and escaping the evil, or the peace and beauty of nature fighting back against it, Hive Mind seems (in my mind) to be about the inevitability of your inner demons (or the outer demons, the ones hiding in the forest).

Overall, the remaster of Hive Mind truly brings a new life to it. It’s more impactful and ‘clean’ (even the gritty bits have a little bit less interference by the sound of things). It also shows Victor’s diversity as a musician, but even more specifically, as a vocalist. While it’s a lot longer than Petrichor, and can feel like you’re trapped in the songs for a while, the payoff is huge if you listen to it all the way through in one sitting - as with Petrichor, it’s a true journey and experience, and while the songs are enjoyable on their own, the true effect can only be felt when immersing yourself in the album totally. At the very least, Hive Mind should excite you for the upcoming ‘Keor 3’, and reveal how much potential and diversity you can expect from Keor, and Victor himself. I would give the original master a 7/10 - while I enjoy most of the songs, I find some of the sounds blend together, and sometimes lose their personality and detail. The remaster, however climbs up the scoreboard, earning itself a 8.5/10. Purely because I don’t have time to always listen to the album all the way through, and I’d rather there were more songs that I could love when only listening to them on their own. Hive Mind is a brilliant album from a brilliant (hive) mind, and you’d be missing out if you didn’t check it out. Please remember to go give Victor/Keor some love and support, he more than deserves it. Thanks for reading, can’t wait for everyone to hear the remaster, it’s amazing!

- James Carstairs