ALBUM REVIEW: Hexecutor – …Where Spirit Withers In Its Flesh Constraint

One of my favourite acts from France, Hexecutor, are back with their third album of Blackened Heavy/Thrash Metal! Out via Dying Victims Productions on March 28th.

Eerie samples begin our journey as ravenous storms of guitar riffs powerfully enter atop rolling cascades of ferocious drums. The marching onslaught erupts into total thrashing armageddon with those glorious blackened atmospherics and more traditional flares. Hexecutor are back and within minutes you can feel their potent metallic blend ensnare your very being and pummel you into submission. Their wild guitars and equally insane vocals are backed by unrelenting storms of percussive torment; showing the band at their most furious from the get-go while including plenty of 80s style dynamics and melodies in the raging inferno of extremity. Bewildering twists and turns are something the band has always managed to include in their more extensive take on Black-Thrash, a variation I find far more engaging than any other. There is a luxuriousness to the more atmospheric, slow-burn approach that is still overloaded with adrenaline and ferocity. Somehow keeping you curious for much longer songs while also bombarding you with utter malice, there is a genius approach to the songwriting that feels both immediate and obscured with something even darker hiding within. Let’s venture on and find out just what that is…

Having such savage music while making every moment feel so intricate and precise is an admirable mixture to excel at. Those frenzied pinch harmonics that give way to swaying medieval adventures and so much more always makes the album feel exhilarating but the progressions seem so natural that they never jar you haphazardly from one mood to the next. Speaking of moods, from the bitter melancholies to the blood-soaked triumphs of a battle won, Hexecutor embody a diverse and matured sense of emotions that many bands simply fail to possess. Perhaps their French romanticism creeps into their music, but do not be fooled, it still remains as lethal as sharpened steel to the throat. The combination of languages adds another layer of mystique to the album which is already a charming listen with plenty to explore. That sense of magic in a record so epic and played so beautifully is simply another string to their bow that propels arrows of pure iron into the heart. I am profoundly gripped by everything here.

Firing on all cylinders, the ability to sound so evil while remaining anthemic in the most fist-pounding of ways is a triumph that all headbangers shall certainly appreciate. Blending some fascinating drums, far beyond the standard tropes of the genre with unique, original and phenomenal guitar work, both in the riffs and the solos and also a strong bass presence; the instrumentals on this album are ridiculously good. Thankfully the vocals don’t ever let us down with shrill piercing mania coming forth but also more contemplative verses to contrast them. This is a band that have been killer from the very first releases but always refined and honed their craft to new heights with each consecutive record. Hexecutor continue to explode from the underground with stratospheric heights within their grasp; at least in this obscure metallic world of ours. Clearly not a mainstream band, but one that in the subterranean is a luminescent gem of the worldwide scene. Each of these eight songs is an electrifying experience but when put in the context of the full album, true magic occurs. This has been an absolutely wonderful listening experience.

Explorative, cohesive and masterfully metallic; Hexecutor’s new record is another triumph of expansive Black/Thrash/Heavy Metal steel that thunders from the underground, screeching to the skies with total power and a lust for blood. Hugely varied songwriting and bewitching musicianship evoke the truly magical essence of old Heavy and Extreme Metal alike as the melodics, blast-beats and outbreaks of evil live in perfect harmony. The spirit will surely break from its flesh constraint.