Hexvessel

Hexvessel – Polar Veil Review

By sentynel on September 28, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 17 comments

“A few years ago, I proved that you can in fact judge a record by its cover, at least where genre is concerned. When Dear Hollow posted the art for Polar Veil in the staff room, my immediate reaction was that I was too Hexvesselled out to review another. Their weird, whimsical folk-psychedelia is right in my wheelhouse, but by album five, I was starting to feel that they’d run out of ideas. But I couldn’t stop looking at the art, with its great looming figure over a little snowy village.” Snowjob.

Sammal – Aika laulaa Review

By Carcharodon on November 17, 2022 in Reviews, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, 23 comments

“Maybe it’s just me but, if I were looking to quote ‘rave reviews’ of a band, I wouldn’t necessarily single out the phrase “Earnest, vibrant music specked with impressive nuance.” Nevertheless, this is the phrase that a promo blurb writer selected from our review of Sammal’s last effort, Suuliekki. Treble Yell, who penned that review in March 2018, had gone on an entirely non-suspicious but very sudden and permanent sabbatical by the time I was press ganged into service later that year. But he clearly enjoyed, without loving, Suuliekki. Since then, Sammal has shed both its keyboard player and bassist. Perhaps you, like me, think that for a band like Sammal, which trades in progressive 70s-inspired neo-folk, both of those positions are fairly critical. Well, these three Finns laugh in your face.” Folk is not afraid of you.

Celestial Season – The Secret Teachings Review

By Steel Druhm on October 22, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 30 comments

“Talk about unexpectedly bumping into a long lost friend! Back in the 90s when the doom death movement was new and being driven by the “Peaceville Three,” there was a lesser known Dutch group called Celestial Season trying to horn in on the grimly emo fun. I first encountered them when I bought their 1995 sophomore album Solar Lovers and ended up quite taken with their gloomy yet accessible style. There were some great moments and I even loved their rendition of Ultravox’s classic 80s hit “Vienna.” After that I never heard from Celestial Season again.” Surprise homework assignment!

Rope Sect – The Great Flood Review

By GardensTale on August 10, 2020 in Reviews, 32 comments

“Idle Hands took the metal scene by storm last year. Their debut Mana had an unexpectedly widespread appeal and proved conclusively that the love for gothic rock among us was not as dead as many thought. The comparison to Idle Hands is easily made when looking at Rope Sect’s The Great Flood, another band seeking to revive old school gothic rock, and perhaps that may contribute to the quickly amassing buzz around the fledgling band, but two quality EP’s and a guest spot for Grave Pleasures and Hexvessel frontman Matthew McNerney a.k.a. Kvohst will do nothing to quell the surging tide of hype.” Rope, buzz, cults and hype.

Hexvessel – Kindred Review

By sentynel on April 14, 2020 in 2020, Finnish Metal, Folk, Folk Metal, Reviews, Svart Records, Folk, Folk Metal, 5 comments

“Finnish forest folk band Hexvessel’s music conjures images of druids and deep, misty woods, and I’ve been a fan since Steel covered No Holier Temple. I love this sort of mystical folk-influenced music, a genre my partner describes as “witchy music.” Right after I wrote about All Tree, I saw them play an enchanting show in an incense-steeped church in London. And now, of course, we’re all stuck in quarantine and unable to actually go wander in the woods. You’d think, then, that I should be excited for another album.” Forest fever.

Little Albert – Swamp King Review

By Carcharodon on March 25, 2020 in 2020, Aural Music, Blues, Italian Metal, Not Metal, Reviews, Stoner Rock, Blues, Stoner Rock, 13 comments

“A long time, on a blog far, far away, when I was not yet even a learner n00b, an Angry Metal Ape reviewed haunting Italian doomsters, Messa’s debut Belfry and its follow up Feast for Water. The debut, in particular, blew away our Steely Primate. And while I am not sure to what degree his prediction has come true that Messa’s “name will be on people’s tongues soon enough,” it bloody well should have. Both albums were stunning (although it was the sophomore effort that captivated me, more than their debut). It was with some surprise, therefore, that I found Little Albert, the side project from Messa’s lead guitarist Alberto Piccolo, sitting, all alone and unmolested in the promo swamp.” Swamp kings can do anything.

Kadavar – For the Dead Travel Fast Review

By Steel Druhm on September 21, 2019 in 2019, German Metal, Nuclear Blast, Occult Rock, Reviews, Occult Rock, 21 comments

“When Ghost popped out of the ground/Vatican and started spinning their poppy, Satanic throwback rock for the masses, they inadvertently birthed a whole new wave of acts seeking to merge the same 70s rock influences with occult imagery and demonic subject matter. One of the earliest adapters of this “new” style was Germany’s Kadavar, who fused psychedelic rock with horror and occult themes in ways that were as good and sometimes better than anything Ghost had done before.” Now THIS is dead racing!

Waste of Space Orchestra – Syntheosis Review

By Roquentin on April 3, 2019 in 2019, Avante Garde, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Experimental Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Sludge Metal, Svart Records, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Experimental Metal, Sludge Metal, 134 comments

“A certain thespian poise dominates throughout Syntheosis, the piece originally commissioned for Roadburn Festival 2018 and then turned into a proper studio recording. Highly conceptual, Waste of Space Orchestra narrate a quite demented story somewhere between magical realism and occult horror. The album develops intently and purposefully, tracing the lines of an imagined ritual and its performers, three mysterious creatures that aim ‘to open a portal that will suck them into a different reality of brain-mutilating color storms and ego-diminishing audio violence.’” Waste not, want more.

Hexvessel – All Tree Review

By sentynel on February 16, 2019 in 2019, Century Media, Finnish Metal, Progressive Rock, Reviews, Not Metal, Progressive Rock, 42 comments

“One of the big things I look for in music is a sense of being taken elsewhere, of stepping aside from the real. I work a stressful tech job, and the next best thing to ditching my desk and marching off into the woods is music that makes me feel like I’m adrift in an ancient forest. This means I’m a big fan of ethereal, folksy influences in my music. Esben and the Witch’s Older Terrors established itself as one of my favorite records ever, and I enjoyed Hexvessel’s first few releases for similar reasons.” Let treedom ring.

Sons of a Wanted Man – Black Days Black Dust Review

By Madam X on March 3, 2017 in 2017, Belgian Metal, Black Metal, Hardcore, Post-metal, Pulverised Records, Reviews, Sludge, Hardcore, Sludge Metal, 33 comments

“Who are Sons of a Wanted Man you ask? In short they’re a fledgling band, hailing from Beringen (Belgium). Citing the influence of Gojira, Deafheaven and Alcest, Sons of a Wanted Man dabble in introspective post-black metal, forcibly heavy sludge and raw hardcore with Black Days Black Dust claiming to journey through beauty and frenzy in equal measure.” This looks suspiciously like an EP….