REVIEW: Hiroe - Wield

Hiroe’s debut full length album Wield feels like an argument put to instrument , building its soundscape to anger as the project presses on before resolving into the sultry energy of making up. Throughout its six instrumental tracks, it offers welcome variation in a genre that often struggles with similar sounding pieces. 

Album opener ‘The Calm’ is aptly named, with its pretty guitar melodies and light drumming - but the story really starts at ‘Tides’ with a crash-lead drum and a swung feel that gives both the Deftones influence that Hiroe claim, as well as the feeling of when someone in a relationship makes the comment that lets each party know they’re about to get into it. As the midpoint solo kicks off the anger builds, as snapped words turn into raised voices, with the subtle raising of the pitch of the guitar as the riff slows down encompassing the consumption of the heavy emotion. Between the last act of ‘Tides’ and final side A track ‘Collider’ the debate is in full swing, with the last act of ‘Tides’ swapping into an alternative rock soundscape reminiscent of the track name, building up to the anger part of a lovers tiff. 

As for ‘Collider’, the pace is maintained with a looped-shred riff and guitar-monies akin to that of an argument going around in circles, while the drumwork includes a hidden snare section which is impactful in its departure from most of the drumwork throughout Wield, before launching back into a power chord-driven that has the pitch of the guitars creeping up to develop it as a motif. By now, the tiff is in full swing while the guitars speak over each other, fighting for attention while repeating the same points. ‘Collider’ ebbs and flows before finishing with power.

Side B’s opener ‘Dancing at the End of the World’ introduces some floor lead drums with its winding melody - the eye of the storm has been hit. The build back up to Hiroe’s maximum is effective also, with the upwards pitch motif making a return, but this time with a more heavy handed approach that adds some variation. 

The standout of this project is penultimate track ‘The Crush’. The heaviest of the six, it adds a metalcore flavour to the project that was unexpected on the first listen, and awaited on the next. The increasingly heavy hand to build to this point feels like it makes sense, then hits its stride with a riff reminiscent of that in A Day to Remember’s '2nd Sucks'; not a band we expected to come to mind upon hitting play. The slow and swung melodies feel more impactful in this heavier soundscape, and the static flares added into the mix give the track more depth as it moves into its second half. The outro builds beautifully with piano melodies infused into its swelling, until it literally crashes out into 15 seconds of ambient fade out - a  painful reminder that it is still prog. 

Album closer ‘I’ve Been Waiting For You All My Life’ is delightful in its creepiness: opening with static and a haunted house style melody as it transcends, that static turning into a dark ambience as the drums deepen to incorporate rolls in its beats. ‘I’ve Been Waiting For You All My Life’ is a sultry make up after the passion of the conflict, coming together over the best of the drumming on the project while slowing the tempo right down in another Deftones-esque track. The only shame here is the finish is a bit lacklustre compared to the main body of the track, with ten seconds of ambience and five of actual silence - a little flare may have been effective. 

All in all, this is not the worst of prog or dreamgaze that has sat in the listening pile, though it is up there for some of the most nap-inducing, with the lack of lyrics being both a respectable choice for Hiroe and a tangible factor in this sentiment. Structurally, most of these tracks are pretty similar: slow start, then two sections each of the melody focused and the riff focused atop four bar phrase drumlines, with fills on bar four. The sounds and melodies used in this structure are still quite varied, and unlike others of the genre, nor have they let the track lengths run away with themselves, but it is still hard to get behind on a matter of personal taste (or personal distaste, for transparency’s sake). Nevertheless, to all those looking for a heavier hand in their prog rock and a story to be told, it can be found in Hiroe’s debut. 

Score: 7/10

Wield was released on June 20th 2025.

Words: Julia Brunton

Photos: Hiroe