ALBUM REVIEW: Hexorcist – Evil Reaping Death

Floridian Death Thrashing horde HEXORCIST will deliver their debut album on July 26th via Memento Mori Records, Unholy Prophecies and Godz Ov War Productions.

Ominous samples of a church bell begin our descent into chaos before the even more grisly theme of “The Shining” adds horror to the mix, this is certainly a foreboding entrance from Hexorcist. Blistering riffs fire in without warning alongside a maniacal slice of shredding and blastbeats, giving the onslaught an instantly ferocious energy of pure old school carnage, more akin to South American bands such as Sarcofago, Necrovore and the like than fellow Floridians. The dismally grim vocals perfectly suit the cutting music with bestial snarls that have a guttural edge which molds to the thick bass tone as the razor-sharp guitars cut the mix triumphantly. The sheer speed of the drums is fantastic and skilful with hammering fills to really hit the riff-fest home. There are some tight dynamics as slower sections give a sepulchral odour to the violence before crawling back from the abyss to unleash total annihilation to obliterating effect. Hexorcist is a new name to me, but their entrance is certainly memorable with a vitriolic beginning to the record, an energy that one can hope is consistent throughout.

Forging forward, the convulsing bass adds a gorgeously warped nuance below the bellowing guitars and drums, giving this a rather unique and less straightforward touch which still fits in with the total devastation of proto-death chaos. The merciless delivery is not only fearsome but also has plenty of groove that makes the purposeful ferocity easy to bang your head to while the corpse-rotting mayhem does not falter. With the instruments landing like sonic artillery and the vocals equally remorseless, the formidable attack is a pure and unfathomably intense execution of Death Metal in its most primal form. Naturally with this style of macabre music, the evil energies and spectral vibrations run rampant throughout the running time with a genuine flame of total Armageddon that cannot be escaped. There is no bells and whistles here, just an endless stream of ripping riffs, domineering drums, face-melting solos and beastly vocals with a decimating performance and production that lands the blasphemous blows with no respite.

A punishing, devastating and utterly maniacal piece of pure old school Death Metal that harkens back to the genres inception while not ripping off any particular band or trying to hard to create nostalgia, delivering a precise and monstrously morbid record with inarguable excellence.