Among the radical artists in the Pakistani Rock Music scene, comes the name Hollow Human spawned by two people who took a potentially crippling scenario and turned it to their advantage. Hollow Human was founded by the members of a band called Pawn: ie. the bassist who calls himself OP8 and guitarist aka U4EA... and this happened because their drummer JDK was forced to sell his drum-kit due to financial reasons. This scenario to some people could have been devastating and the prospect of giving up on their passion due to frustration (which seems to be the norm among us Pakistanis) could have made them say sayonara to the music world. Not so here: They turned their attention to a relatively new concept among Pakistani artists... composing music via a computer. The neat thing about it is that one does not need real instruments and can simulate them to come up with a truly orchestrated masterpiece.

The good thing about Industrial and Post-Rock Music is that the artist does not need to care about people's taunts that no guitars or drums have been used. In fact, the very key to experiment is what took people such as Prong and NIN to go industrial and explore new sounds other just plain simple guitars than an active drum kit. The use of sequenced instruments and computer based sound synthesis in addition to live bass and distortion guitar gave these two pioneers the sounds with which they carved their niche on the predominantly Pro-Rock underground scene. Hollow Human is a parallel step in the same direction in the Pakistani Music arena.

Production of the project is pretty effective with elements such as panning and sound effects. As well, the synthetic sounds in addition to guitars and bass give it quite a post-rock finish! Radically different from mainstream music as well as the conventional Rock/Metal adventures by people. "Swallow the Tail" is an excellent example. The song has relatively negligible compositional elements. Rather it is the percussion, guitar licks and mutes, and the vocals (not even singing but talking) that pull the song together to present itself as a work of art.

At other instances, the composition and the lyrics are also very strong, and the arrangement is quite intricate to give a finished product that is complex enough to keep the listener interested. On the other hand, it is repetitive enough to be called Industrial. Keeping this delicate balance is quite hard if you ask me. "Synthesis" and "I Can, And Will" are classic examples. Right from the start of it all, you hear symphonic compositions that float on top of percussive elements such as a sampled drum-kit or conga or even tabla. The bass and guitars have been added by recording from actual guitars played by OP8 and U4EA, while the vocals have been added on top of everything to give a very cool production.

In essence, I really like this experiment spawned by these two pawn-members. I am proud to have them on UPAC. Though they have quite few milestones before they really make it big, they have the right attitude. I hope they continue to experiment with this album as their guiding light. The production, composition and lyrics are quite strong which means eventually they will do very well on the Underground Music Scene. The album is not only a good entertainment package for people who are bored with the norm, but serves as yet another example to stress the fact that one does not need high-profile tools set by convention to realize a dream... the whole concept of ingenuity revolves around the will to accept one's deficiency and to use it to one's advantage through experimentation and exploration, and especially through keeping an open mind. This is just the kind of endeavour that I myself strive for and I am glad that there are others too who share this vision.

Rock On!!