Track by track: Hook, Line and Sinker - Terre Brûlée
I had the possibility at the end of Autumn to listen to the newest album from Hook, Line and Sinker, Terre Brûlée, and they have really gone to the next level with this hard hitting album after having laid the groundwork with their debut album, (Smooth Jazz implies the existence of) Rough Jazz, and the follow-up EP, Leichenwagen. I have really been enjoying the compositions and arrangements from the Fribourg-based trio across the seven tracks of Terre Brûlée. The track sees the band collaborate with Scalpel adding further intensity to the song.
The album was released on 14th November and the band celebrated the occasion with a release concert with The Burden Remains and delicate prey at the Nouveau Monde in their hometown. One of the most recent Freunde and Resilience sessions features the trio performing a lot of the new album live in a farmhouse (video here). The band, switching between French and German in the interview, also talk about their connection to Schwyz and Earl Music Club. I also recommend checking out other sessions by the YouTube channel.
And if you have a chance to catch the band live, it’s definitely worth it. I saw them at Mauz in Einsiedeln (with Fomies) in December and it was the perfect way to close the year in terms of live shows.
In this new edition of track by track, we find out more about this fantastic album.
Hook, Line and Sinker live at Nouveau Monde on 14th November 2025 (Copyright: Patrick Principe)
Introduction from the band
The band started originally as a bass & drum-duo between Samuel and Benjamin in 2017 and of course they were huge Royal Blood fans. The band name Hook, Line and Sinker even originates from a song from their second album. The two played a bunch of shows together before Samuel met Martino at La Gustav and invited him to jam. After a first jam together in 2018 it was clear for everybody, that they would continue as a trio. As a trio, the band recored and released the album (Smooth Jazz Implies the Existence of) Rough Jazz (2022) and the EP’s Reduced to the Max (2023) and Leichenwagen (2024) before the second album Terre Brûlée (2025). Over the years they’ve formed a three-piece-rock-artillery getting their kicks in relentless riffs, fuzz pedals and psychedelic sounds that likes to play loud, rough but also groovy.
About the band name
Etymology: based on the idea of a fish so hungry it swallows the hook (the part that catches the fish), the line (the string) and the sinker (a weight attached to the line to keep it under water)
(Photo copyright: Jean-Marc Guélat)
About the name of the album, Terre Brûlée
After a fan commented after a concert that we had razed the stage to the ground, we thought that this expression was quite fitting for our playing style and concert performance. We want to generate a lot of raw energy live. After us, ‘la terre brûlée’, which we thought was a very good fit as an album title and credo of the band. The album cover is also from a concert at Earl's Music Club, a concert that we thought felt fantastic to play and where the audience was very enthusiastic and energetic towards a small unknown band from Fribourg. We appreciated the evening at Hoss place very much and we thought the photograph of the concert is a fitting tribute to the album and the location.
The album was recored at the Studio de la Fonderie and was produced, mixed and mastered by our great friend Sacha Ruffieux, with whom we already worked on the other albums and EP’s. For the second album we’ve hit the studio for two days to records the drums and bass together, after which we took two months to lay the vocals and the guitars. For the first album we’ve wanted more to capture the raw energy of the band, where as for this one we’ve took more time to assess sounds, vibes and song structres. It was really different in comparison to the first album, but as group we felt this new approach fitted more the band at this time and we’re more than happy with the result of the second album.
Sail
Martino had brought once the idea for an opener to the album - a slow-paced, heavy and spheric guitar-layered track that slowly builds itself up with multiple voices in a desperate and desolate tone. We’d imagined a lone viking sailing alone in to a storm, only thinking about to keep rowing and tempting the fate. Since Martino recorded the guitars at his place, he one time came to a rehearsal and showed us the intro with the mandolin. At first Benjamin and Samuel were hesitant, but after a second listen it was clear, that the beginning with the mandolin felt great and it gives the song a whole different touch of fragility and delicacy, before bass guitar and drum set in.
Away
The song is actually an older song, that we’ve really liked playing live but we rewrote over the songwriting-phase. Sail blends right into Away and it can be listened as a one track, since the lyrics continue the same story. The first part is more on our psychedelic side, with a long reverby solo from Martino and a bassline that is a bit inspired by Echoes from Pink Floyd. We’ve actually played that part of Away for the first time with Sacha Love as guest musician on our first record release concert for Rough Jazz, where we wanted to stretch the song for a bit and we wanted the same vibe again for the album version. Then of course a QOTSA-one-note-piano in the faster rock’n’roll part and quick breaks to give the fast and tight drum fills more power. Martino and Sam have clearly a kink for the hard hitted fills from Benjamin.
An End Is Starting
The working title of this track was for a long time 1000 Riffs and one might find the title quite suiting, since we’ve packed a whole lot of different riffs, licks and parts into this one. A bit like our version of Elephants from Them Crooked Vultures, the song has completely different sections and atmosphere from start to end. All in all the song has patched itself together from several riffs from several jams overtime, that we thought worked great together.
Out Of My Hands
A song that Martino wrote one week before going into the studio. At first we didn’t think we’d pull it through, but in the studio we tried it and it grooved almost right away. Since the beginning the working title was The single, since we knew it would be a quite short song (only about 4 minutes) and had a bit more radio-flair then the longer tracks. It’s the most pop-song of the album and Martino did a hell of a job with the guitar-sounds, structures, voices, lyrics and atmosphere, Benjamin and Sam were in love right away with the melancholy vibe and the this new facette of Hook, Line and Sinker.
Missing Pieces (ft. Scalpel)
The most aggressive song of the album is also dedicated to an angry person. The longer the song, the harsher it gets, almost police-siren-like. For the „Hardcore“-ending of the song it was clear to us, that we could ask our very good friend and great vocalist Scalpel to lay down some lyrics. First we didn’t know what to sing about and Pascal asked, if he could just shout some stuff about „burning down churches“ and we were ok with it right away.
Get On Your Knees
Also an older song we rewrote in the songwriting-sessions with a few new twists, parts and sounds. Slide-guitar and dobro bring an almost southern-style in the mix and we’ve hid a little riff from On the Road again somewhere in there. The lyrics are once again directed at our best friends from the church. Get On Your Knees is all in all a classic Hook, Line and Sinker song: a whole lot of different song parts, sudden tempo changes, atmosphere changes, heavy riffs at the end, Sam that shouts some random stuff, two-part harmony by Martino and abrupt breaks by Benjamin. The song is quite difficult to play live without guest musician so maybe we won’t play this one live again for quite some time.
Rough Feelings
Rough Feelings is actually the first riff we jammed together as a trio in 2018. The song originally was based on only two riffs and was called Slow and Easy, a 6-minute and slow-burning steamroller. For 8 years we’ve had a set-closer (Dawn from Rough Jazz) but with this one we’ve finally found a song that we thought was also heavy and cathartic enough to end an album and the live-shows. The recipe is quite simple, just like the mantra from Samuel the song gains heavyness and weight until the rupture mid-song, after which we come back with a second riff, rougher, louder and groovier. The brute force is surely one of our strengths in live shows and we hope that this can also be heard on the records.
Album credits:
Songs written and recorded by Hook, Line and Sinker
Vocals, guitar, dobro, mandolin, synth - Martino Lepori
Vocals, bass guitar - Samuel Riedo
Vocals, drums - Benjamin Schneuwly
Vocals on Missing Pieces - Pascal Stoll
Recorded at le Studio de la Fonderie
Mixed, mastered and produced by Sacha Love
Links:
Related articles:
Track by tracks:
Other contributions from Samuel Riedo
Soundtracks:
Hometown
Schwyz connection
Live performances