27th May 2025

Review: “Hide From The Light” by Diesect

Regular national touring with everyone whose anyone including Fit For A King, August Burns Red and While She Sleeps has brought Brisbane Australian heavy hitters Diesect to this point. The four piece have under their belts a pair of EPs in 2021’s “Mirror Image” and 2023’s “Shadows Follow” as well as a fistful of standalone singles, offering bleak and emotional lyrical narratives as well as crushing catharsis in the heavy riffs of Nu-Metalcore. Fearlessly navigating the turbulent realms of both internal struggles and external chaos, while refusing to sugar-coat the complexities of life has earned them more than two million streams across various platforms. Inking a deal with Greyscale Records the quartet now have a concept record for our listening pleasure, thematically telling the story of someone gradually losing faith or hope in being able to heal, until the desire to try passes and they are wilfully consumed by the negative. “This story is told chronologically through each song on the project, 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” as the band put it…

Remember that film M3GAN? The one with the artificially intelligent doll that develops self-awareness and becomes hostile? Listening to the opening moments of title track “Hide From The Light” creates an eerie sense of tension, a voice that delivers a speech about how darkness wins sounding like the doll in the movie. That builds into a storm of raging staccato riff breaks and throat splitting vocals, very much the push that makes you want to move despite that dark undercurrent. The breakdown passage is of course monumental, the unnerving sounds that follow enough to set the teeth on edge. Programming ushers in the fearsome “Too Many Scars“, bombastic bass and glitchy sounds accompanying the furious vocals as it takes a leaf from the book of bands like Dealer, Northlane and Diamond Construct. It’s pure self loathing like screaming in the mirror before shattering it with a single punch, numb to the bloody knuckles after days of sleep deprivation. That trauma continues into the punishing “Pretty Much Dead“, a cut in which the protagonist reaches the point they no longer care and let the devil in. As dark as it is brutal, it fades to an eerie mid section of distant voices before returning to the chaotic stomp, driving nails into the coffin with malicious intent.

Featuring production by ProdPlague and Luka Rozaka of ten56, second single “Shura” sounds HUGE from the pummelling percussion and brutal bass drops to the unhinged vocal performance. The guitars bring a verve and swagger but its the programming that elevates it, the uncomfortable nature of the lyrical narrative resonating with everyone who has been through any form of anxiety or depression. Washing away the world, the blood and thunder of “There Was Never Light” is incredible. Laced with science fiction horror overtones this harrowing moment is not only anvil heavy but so emotionally bleak it’s like swallowing a lethal dose of poison. The way that the band have captured the feeling of that in a couple of minutes of sonic oblivion is stunning and should be applauded because they’ve nailed it. Body slamming you with its intensity “Suffer In The Dark” continues the roller coaster ride of emotions with a blunt force trauma to the skull. An ocean of glitchy riffs and programming alongside the screams of someone who has been left alone for far to long and gone feral, it’s as razor sharp as it gets. This record is Diesect at their finest and most destructive, circling the drain of humanity and getting uncomfortable with it [8.5/10]

Track Listing