Most of these 11 jams are in the three- and four-minute range. They mostly juxtapose brute force - a mid-noughties EDM sensibility that isn't surprising after considering how many house records relied on the jazz harmony and scale books. Opener "Code" comes at the listener with swelling synths and effects that introduce a pulse from a Tangerine Dream-esque sequencer. The beat is dynamically relentless, recalling Omar Souleyman's Dabke wedding music. Hutchings blows aggressively repetitive patterns over cascading rhythms and a wordless vocal chorus. "Technicolour" offers an intro chordal pattern derived from Detroit techno before Hutchings articulates a knotty melody that exchanges phrases with interlocking rhythm tracks and wonky, zig-zagging synths. "Pyramids" pops and pulses before synth washes and angular bass pulses meet syncopated snares and a high, honking tenor squall that recalls Hermeto Pascoal at his most expressive. You can't help but move to it. "Frequency of Feeling Expansion" commences with a droning organ sound as Hallett moves into swinging post-bop on the kit. Amid flowing, endlessly blossoming synth vamps, Hutchings develops an incremental melody and begins to solo around it as the rhythm section (very) gradually ratchets the tension. At just under seven minutes, "Angel of Darkness" is the set's longest and most sinister cut. Its indefinite keyboard and percussion washes create a tense, atmospheric backdrop that Hutchings confronts with wailing intensity. He is moving against it with his expression and passion. At the halfway mark, a doom-jazz cadence begins swirling as the tenor sax moves in tandem with rockist drumming, and a foreboding caution from the synths. Closer "Mystik" finds Hallett melding hard bop with drum'n'bass on snare and hi-hat. Leavers lays in eerie, unspecific bleeps, bloops, and washes before Hutchings' tenor bleats then roars, driving the dark, dubby groove into the stratosphere. Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam is unlikely to appeal to conservative jazz heads. It will please fans of the hybrid jazz scene in England and draw in many new listeners internationally who will be deeply attracted to its apocalyptic energy, innovative beats, and rowdy abundance.
- Thom Jurek - allmusic.com
