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Danish blackened hardcore that has more in common with cold industrial than any passionate youth crew anthems. Most of this album is a relentless assault, and yes, that’s a cliche in metal, but roughly 25 out of 35 minutes of this fucker is anchored by jackhammer blast beats. Vocalist Filip sounds like he’s about halfway through a demonic possession, all snarls and screams, but maintaining enough power to not get lost in the chaos.
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| Photo © John Mourlas. All rights reserved. |
The closer, "Inferis", twice as long as any other track here, presents a band that has grown weary of their own audial attack. The track is almost like the usual hardcore breakdown but slowed and stretched out into a 9-minute growl. It’s a fantastic song and a style Hexis revisited on their split with Primitive Man.
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| Photo © John Mourlas. All rights reserved. |
Abalam is not the best album of the year, even on this short of a release the sound of the early tracks gets a little one trick pony after a while. But it is a release I've come back to quite a bit this year, whenever I feel like… feel like… hold on let me Google something. Whenever I feel like “getting fucked in the earholes with a sledgehammer”. Ah, yes.
Abalam by Hexis is available on Bandcamp here:
[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]
Or you could be like me and buy a tape of the album in Paris where a weird beard Frenchman will glare at you since you just ruined his day by *daring* to step foot into his store. Whatever.