REVIEW: Hot Milk's "A Call to the Void" via Music for Nations

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, so today we end our Octane-core triple feature with Manchester alternative duo, Hot Milk. My experience with Hot Milk up until this point has been a mixed bag. I was enjoying their music just fine until I absolutely loved 2021’s I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I’m Dead, which the year it came out I appreciated for its pop sensibilities and larger than life rock and roll sonics. But, as time went on, I became sort of disenchanted with Jim and Han. Not just because their music is all sort of samey but also as the two stepped more and more into the limelight, I found them to not only be arrogant, but also like they genuinely think they are better than the rest of their scene. Still, I waited quite a bit for this debut record so I’m giving it the fair shake it deserves.

One thing I actually enjoy about Hot Milk even still is how much care you can tell went into their themes. Across their entire discography up until this point the band has written consistently about death and the questions of what comes after. This comes to a lovely conclusion on “Forget Me Not;” the final track on this record. Accepting that when someone’s gone from this world they truly are gone and that you won’t know what happens until the same happens to you is a surprisingly moving sentiment given what goes on here leading up to this point.

And what goes on here leading to that conclusion is sort of a rocky road.

In spite of everything Hot Milk is able to accomplish thematically they keep it sort of narrow and fill the remaining space with a forced Hot Topic vibe. On “Horror Show” they are literally singing about how people stay away from them because they’re too weird and scary. That same mood never eases up on the entire record, in fact songs like “Party on My Deathbed” feel, lyrically, like the same song as “Horror Show.” The biggest criminal in all of this is “Alice Cooper’s Pool House,” a song about how the duo almost died at a party at Alice’s place and has absolutely no depth beyond that. Then the man himself closes out the track in what may be the pinnacle of edge; here Alice goes through a phone conversation with a deli owner asking them to dispose of some “dead teenagers” and implies that they use these teens for ingredients. I understand Alice’s career making a statement by being polarizing but I think there’s somethings that are, not only in poor taste, but just are so stupid they’re not even worth the bit. 

Still, in the realm of radio butt rock, Hot Milk is sort of on the higher spectrum in terms of quality. The performances here are all fairly strong, for all the slamming I did of “Horror Show’s” lyricism it has a lot of melodies I can’t really deny. The instrumental on “Bloodstream” is legitimately compelling synth rock with a strong pre-chorus. To that end though, even the positives are all just radio pop at the end of day. The two members have a vast gap in quality to their vocal abilities as well. “Party on My Deathbed” features a rap section where Han really sells her verse and makes for a standout moment on the record. Jim on the other hand is doing his best Slim Shady impression and its difficult to get through.

I don’t think this is a particularly good record, but I do think Hot Milk has some songs in them and that’s the best I can ask for. Still, I find myself sort of fearing for their future releases and the band’s personality and where their views will lie, especially if they’re eager to collaborate and write about Alice Cooper in 2023.

I was mid on this record

Favorite tracks

1. WELCOME TO THE...
2. HORROR SHOW
3. BLOODSTREAM
4. PARTY ON MY DEATHBED
5. ALICE COOPER'S POOL HOUSE
6. ZONED OUT
7. OVER YOUR DEAD BODY
8. MIGRAINE
9. BREATHING UNDERWATER
10. AMPHETAMINE [feat. Julian Comeau of Loveless]
11. FORGET ME NOT

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