New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Recent times have brought forth a lot of hype around the collective indie rock scene, and it makes sense when listening to a single like Dark Below's "Hate Being Human." The glare of the guitar's melody mixed with the pounce of the percussion in this song is already enough to make anyone want to connect with the groove right off the bat but combined with the charm of the lyricism and the players themselves, "Hate Being Human" feels like respite from the predictable sounds of mainstream pop in 2022.
There aren't any samples or rapped lyrics in this piece; no verses are replaced by the virtuosic guitar solo, and there isn't a heady dose of minimalism where arena rock grandeur would have been. Dark Below is admittedly into that 1990s progressive alternative rock style, but the personality of their music has a much younger soul than their influences can account for contemporarily. The beats here are driving while the guitar is on an even level with the vocal, and although it's a lot less complicated in style than some of the other content getting rave reviews this month, that could be its most uniquely appealing feature.
To be fair, while the guitar parts aren't feeling like the main draw in this single, for me at least, they put some glamour on the underlying retro theme in the instrumentation. There's obvious chemistry between the players, but it's not a point of emphasis, either. I found the eclectic feel of the rhythm to be a bit more significant after a few listening sessions, and because of how even the beat is, there's never a moment where the band sounds like they're having a hard time maintaining a singular rhythm.
They're firing on all cylinders here, and with their enthusiasm for the material being as strong as it is in the studio, it wouldn't surprise me if they would be even tougher on the stage. There's a lot that could be done to open up this riff in a more limitless setting, and with concerts back on the rise, the opportunity to see what Dark Below can bring to the table is quickly approaching.
You can't make good rock music without having a deep emotional connection to the medium, and I think that's why this track sounds as ace as it does. There's a flame burning in Dark Below's attack in "Hate Being Human" that we don't hear or see enough of in rock anymore, and if it's able to spread through their success, it will ultimately be a great thing for the underground internationally and in their regional scene.
I could go for an LP's worth of material in the style of this track, and if dedicated to more of an album-oriented strain of rock n' roll, I haven't any doubt that what Dark Below offer us in "Hate Being Human" would be just a drop in the creative bucket compared to what they might develop across the length of an entire record. The bottom line? If you're a rock fan, this is a single you've got to check out.
