A prolific live band, self-styled blackened hardcore warriors Hexis here are releasing their third full-length album.
Prepare for dark heaviness. The opening song “Letum” has a surprisingly pleasing flow. It’s a bit straight line, which seems to be the recurrent story thanks to the deep rumbling undercurrent. “Divinitas” continues in the same vein. There is a veritable storm in the air, accentuated by the roaring vocalist. From turbulence the mood changes to clanking suffering – not quite doom, but more the underworld field of punishment. “Exhaurire” drags us along through sinister gloom. There is an air of Cult of Luna about this blackened sludge. I loved the even more atmospheric ending to “Exhaurire” in which we float around in the dark ether as a female voice hauntingly rides above the asteroids which I visualised – great sound effects. “Interitus” takes us back to the turbulent and crushing chaos that we previously encountered. It’s rapidly over like a passing storm but the short “Tacet” keeps us in the same zone.
“Accipis” is leaden-heavy too but creeps up on us menacingly. Sometimes the threat is direct. At other times it comes out of the backing instrumentals, which know only darkness but vary in atmospheric impact. “Nunquam” is of the direct variety. We then plunge into the darkness of “Vulnera”. Now this is sludge of the deepest variety. No-one will survive this one, I fear. Somewhere in “Captivus” and “Memento” I felt a hardcore-style approach, particularly in the dual vocals, but everything on this album is dominated by the sheer weight and heaviness, relegating most styles to the also-ran section. The ever attritional “Amissus” precedes the final slab “Aeternum”, the title track. Its opening is unusually mystical, as if we find ourself in a black void with mysterious sounds and pulses around us. It is drone like with a sinister Burzumesque feel. Galactic force fields quietly make their presence felt. And so we are left helplessly and very effectively in this darkest of soundscapes.
There’s much more to this band than the advertised blackened hardcore. “Aeternum” is a weighty album. There’s no doubt about that. Heavily laden with atmosphere, the aural assault can be direct or suggestively menacing. Stylistically it dances around a bit and would have had more impact if the pieces had been longer and more closely connected over the album. But there is a central core of “Aeternum”, and that is its deep heaviness. Coupled with its mighty atmospheres it is an impressive album.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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