Hollow Pact is a four-piece band that blends hard rock, alt rock, and metal into a compelling mix. Jager Henry, the grandson of drummer John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, and son of Jason Bonham, follows in his family's passion for music as the lead vocalist of the band. Their debut single, "Heavensent," came out on August 22nd of last year and incorporated hard rock, metal, and industrial elements into the song. They made their Warp Tour Orlando debut that same year.
Hollow Pact's new single, "Tear," came out on June 24th and has amassed over 100,000 plays on Spotify and over 75k views on the music video. It has a sound that is very heavy in alternative rock, with the occasional and sudden use of harsher vocals to bring a line in or carry it out.
"Tear" seems to be about a toxic relationship, or even one where the love is just gone, and how that can become all-consuming and what feels like world-ending at the same time. It captures what it's like to feel hopeless in the ability to leave or move on with lyrics like "And I’m wasting air for you / Every time we share the same room / 'Cause I don’t know what there’s left to do to save us."
When asked about the song's the meaning, the band states:
'Tear' lives in the space between comfort and collapse—a broken reflection of attachment, erosion, and the weight of holding on to something for too long. In other words, everything you don’t need but crave.
This song is done in such a nice way for the emotion it portrays. Most of the song is done so it's lower-energy; it's soft while still being on the heavier side of alt rock. This almost feels like a portrait of exhaustion through sound. A duality is created when the song brings in those harsher moments with the vocals, where it feels like the tension is cracking, the slips of irritability that can come with the exhaustion of faking something you no longer feel or carrying on with something that was never meant to feel like a chore.
Music video for "Tear" by Hollow Pact
The music video is a really fun mix between footage of the band playing in an all-white room and what seems to be same room, but with the lights turned off as a projector plays different clips of things (like a closeup of an eye, the band themselves, and more). At some points, we get glimpses of vocalist Jager Henry sitting in front of three mirrors as his reflection glitches, or all the different reflections of him moving in completely separate ways (like one sitting, another leaning over, etc.). There's a lot of use of the glitching in-and-out-of-frame effect and lighting in this video.
I really love this video, honestly, because it shares aesthetic parallels with a lot of my favorite movies. With the moody lighting and video, we get a Donnie Darko vibe, yet the use of the glitch effect feels very Fight Club in my opinion. Along with the lyrics, this video fits right into a very sync-worthy feel for those types of films.
I am so excited to see Hollow Pact's growth and how they will evolve with more time. Being such a new band on the scene, they have so much going for them already and have earned their place in not only my playlists, but also in the "breaking bands" category. I know I will be waiting patiently for their next release!
Hollow Pact. Photo Credit: Facebook
Meet Hollow Pact
Jager Henry – Lead vocalist
Niño – Guitarist
Cash Lane – Bassist
Michael Rose – Drummer
