Spain’s Hex Deliver A Wonderfully Devastating Onslaught On New Death/Doom Metal Album

If you ever wanted to have a good time destroying the world, the new album God Has No Name from Spain’s beastly unique extreme metal band Hex is the one for you. The band combine death and doom metal sensibilities into a powerful seven track monster that lets every hit fall with what feels like close to absolute maximum power, building up into enveloping, occasionally almost even catchy riff-mania. While personally affecting — and unsettling — the music on this new album isn’t just pointed inwards. Rather, it feels like a powerful attack on the deplorable systems that have sprung up in areas like religion and society at large. In the wake of the methodical onslaught that album offers on that front, some real power springs up for those partaking of this journey although not without escaping the shadow of the main desolation.

The music truly charts a full breadth of this journey, growing from atmospheric sludgy haze into full-on sonic misery and not stopping there. From the pain wracked crevices, the band rocket further on into derangement, serving up somewhat hypnotically intense passages that help define and lead the charge on which they’ve embarked. Earthy, full tones cover the whole work, increasing its breadth and the magnitude of the feelings of power and destruction of the improperly elevated embedded in the album. Importantly, the music really never gets lost in itself for a moment — this is a definitely not monotone work, instead truly encapsulating and transmitting the journey that it markets. There’s never a fall into this just being “another power metal record” or anything of the sort.

There are some unique stylistic flourishes spread throughout God Has No Name that ultimately help establish the unique nature of the overall album. Although the concept of attacking religion as a whole certainly isn’t brand new, the band include an extended unsettling audio sample of an apparent religious preacher around the midpoint of their new record that helps set the tone of what they’re dealing with. They’re not just spinning wildly out of control with no end in sight. They’re launching a methodical destruction offering to hand the reins of power off to those on the sidelines. It’s a really quickly thrilling experience.

5/5 Stars

Pre-order the full album — available July 5 — from Transcending Obscurity Records and listen to some in the meantime below.