Costa Rica-based HIDDEN PLACE have been through a lot since their formation in 2011. From changing their name from AT THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN, to almost having a Ship of Theseus lineup, HIDDEN PLACE has persevered and, together with four singles, released “As Above So Below” on Halloween 2025. HIDDEN PLACE borrows musical inspiration from nu metal, technical deathcore, and many others, so their sound can only be described as “experimental deathcore.” HIDDEN PLACE’s members also have their own projects, as current rhythm guitarist Ricardo Herrera has the ongoing solo project INSANITY, and bassist Gerardo Araya has had numerous projects, and has also allowed HIDDEN PLACE to produce and record their own music, thanks to his knowledge of music production. I first came across these guys during a usual Bandcamp voyage into recent metal releases, and the artwork immediately caught my eye – I love album covers with paintings, as it radiates such a classy feel (they’re also always brutal as hell as well). If the deathcore matches the art, then HIDDEN PLACE may be on the rise as one of last year’s best picks in deathcore.
Four singles, all with gorgeous covers just like the full release, were released from March of 2023 to a little bit before Halloween 2025 – proving that this release is years’ worth of effort. The first, “Perish,” opens up with a haunting sample from god-knows-where, and launches into a blackened deathcore symphony, backed up with orchestral elements. The vocals trudge along the beaten path of shrieks and gutturals, and the riffs are repetitive but powerful. The drumming, supplied by Josue Abarca, is crazy fast and never lets up, even during the typical deathcore breakdown section. The second single, “A Dance With Death,” starts glitching, as the audio chips infrequently, but then full-throttles down the death metal highway. The vocals are more strained here, and the lyrics sediment the genre label; “red dripping from the leaves as it fills the streams flowing back into the sea that gave birth to the tree.” The song ends a bit more suddenly, with no seconds for the music to diminish, but it still holds strong. The third single is named after the album (or the album’s named after the song, who knows), and features Costa Rican saxophonist Eithel Vidaurre. Clean vocals make their first appearance, and they are pretty solid. Many bands fall short on clean vocals when they focus on harsh ones, but Joseph Batista blends both very well. The mellow saxophone passage is sublime and makes this track an instant highlight. The final single, “Cyverpsycho,” is a relatively short track, and is chaotic as hell, with some electronic elements that remind me to an extent of CAR BOMB. All four singles are solid, and overall, a really good taste of the rest of the album.
The opener of the album, “What Of Creation,” introduces spoken word segments with some jazzy melodies intertwined. “An Orphan World” goes down the djent path, while “Fear” goes down the technical death metal path. It really seems like all genres lead to HIDDEN PLACE one way or another, and that’s a great thing, as albums lose memorability when every track copies the former. “Izanami” is downtempo, while “Misan7hropy” is melodic. No base is left uncovered with “As Above As Below,” and I greatly appreciate it. Other genres that are covered, with only three tracks left, vary, with “The White Horseman” giving me some MySpace-era deathcore, and “Amaranthine” quenching my thirst for “regular” metal. The last track features the last special artist, with “Take A Bite” introducing Skey Martinez. Not entirely sure what they contributed, but the song was good nevertheless. After this delightful genre rollercoaster of an album, I can say with confidence that “As Above So Below” is the best metal album I’ve heard from Central America to date.
To call this album experimental, though, is a bit of a stretch. Yes, there are many different sounds present here, but the metal boundaries haven’t really been pushed all that much. I’d label this as straight-up progressive deathcore, as prog nowadays flips the style whenever needed. However, I’m not the only one who thinks this was a great effort, as the band got nominated for “Best Metal Single” at the Association of Composers and Music Authors of Costa Rica with “As Above So Below.” HIDDEN PLACE’s new album shows many years of work, and it has shot up to one of the best deathcore releases of 2025.
Written by Mitchell j Connolly
Tracklist
- What Of Creation
- An Orphan World
- Fear
- Cyberpsycho
- Perish
- Izanami
- Misan7hropy
- As Above So Below
- The White Horseman
- A Dance With Death
- Amaranthine
- Tale A Bite
Lineup
Joseph Batista – Vocals
Enrique Núñez – Guitar
Francisco Núñez – Guitar
Josue Abarca – Drums
Gerardo Araya – Bass
Ricardo Herrera – Guitar
Eithel Vidaurre (Featured, Track 8)
Sley Martinez – (Featured, Track 12)
Label
Independant
