Hooffoot: Phantom Limb

Another 2025 release that slipped past me, but I’m glad I caught this one. Hooffoot is a Swedish instrumental band playing it raw and aggressive; intense heavy prog rock blending in atmospheric moments with a dash of jam band flavor. Keyboardist Bengt Wahlgren stands out with his use of classic instruments such as Rhodes and especially the Hammond organ which swirls throughout the album. The band churns and burns underneath Wahlgren during “Phantom Limb.� This music is constantly building. By the time you hit the keyboard solo’s this song soars to its killer finale, and that Hammond sound is monstrous. Hearing the bass clarinet in “When the Insane Go Marching In’ was a head turner at first, but it adds a nice color to the music. Hooffoot has the ability (which is often rare) to be atmospheric without losing an ounce of power. I love the fuzzed-out bass around the 7:45 mark, I can hear this track morphing into multiple improvisational opportunities in a live setting. Even cooler is how bassist Per Hallgren and drummer Jacob Hamilton groove so well during the outro, nothing stiff about this rhythm section.

“Liisa (a Finnish Spectrolite)� again features guest Frederik Kronkvist on flute this time (he also played the bass clarinet), so we have another guest elevating the band's compositions. The flute mixes it up with the electric keys and guitar; all three instruments are out front and blend well. Mellow, spacy, and jammy, the band captures the perfect atmosphere and rides on it for the first six minutes, and then cranks it up to full power to close out the song. The album ends with the 14-minute “Last Letter Home�, a mellow start creates that anticipation as to when they will explode. The music gets a kick around the four-and-a-half-minute mark, but when the violin (Samuel Lundstrum) joins, that’s what makes the track special. The last four minutes feature Hooffoot doing what they do best, crushing it!

Hooffoot is a new discovery for me, I plan to dive into their previous two releases with much anticipation.

Track Listing
1. Phantom Limb
2. When the Insane Go Marching In
3. Liisa (a Finnish Spectrolite)
4. Last Letter Home

Added: January 20th 2026
Reviewer: Eric Porter
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 61
Language: english

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