HYBRIDIZED is a Groove metal band based out of Rome, Italy. They formed in 2016 and released their debut EP, "Metal Connections," in March 2018. Two years and one month later (that's April 2020) they released their S/T debut full-length album. It features two tracks from the 2018 EP ("House Of Nightmares" and "Live In A Lie") in addition to eight new tracks. The album is a sonic time capsule back to the Groove Metal scene of the 90's - 2000's.

The band's name connotes the coming together of multiple styles, namely Thrash and Heavy Metal, and suggests that when the best of these two worlds are refined and fused, they render a superior output. Like the murderous cyborg entity on the cover, the idea is this music is brutal, eloquent, and unstoppable. Whether that's true or not, I suppose is in the ear of the beholder. I mean we can debate genres and subgenres all day, but within its relative context, "Hybridized" is strong album.

"Hybridized" comprises nine tracks and times out at forty minutes. Eight of the tracks are fairly straight-forward Groove Metal, with mid-tempo rhythms, down-tuned riffs, exceptional solos, and Death-edged vocals. Thematically, there's death, war, social critiques, and futuristic narratives. All tracks are in English except for the final song, "Voi," (trans: you) which is in Italian, and "Girl Of Panama," which is essentially an instrumental.

In addition, there are few nuances to the album. The first is the short spoken word vignettes added to a number of the tracks, including "House Of Nightmares" (borrowed from Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead"), "Eyes" (source unknown but I'm sure a more qualified horror fan will pin it) and "Run Away" (this one is just a couple of seconds of some guy panting, but still). The affinity of these tracks, especially if taken in order - run, nightmares, eyes - provides a tidy internal sub-theme to the album. "Sniper" also has some soundtrack effects in the final few minutes, but it lacks the tie-in to the above noted tracks. The second nuance is track six, which is less of a nuance and more of an anomaly. "Girl Of Panama" is the type of track which was probably a blast for the band to record (in fact they're laughing when the tape starts to roll) but will absolutely polarize listeners. It's about 30 seconds of traditional classical guitar with what I presume is an Italian flourish. It provides a nice inside look at the band having a laugh, and it's actually quite catchy.

If Groove Metal is your thing, then "Hybridized" needs to be in your collection. It offers a respectful nod to the past and adds its own twist. As the band's first full-length album, it is a solid kick off to what is hopefully a long tenure.