Originally formed as a duo in Paris in 2018 by guitarist “C.S.” and bassist/vocalist “H.R.”, the addition of drummer “Mortem” the following year fleshed out Hexekration Rites into the classic power trio. Like many bands who operate as a three-piece, the sound created is big and boisterous, but it’s rarely been as awe-inspiring (and truly terrifying) as the brand of blacked death this French threesome deliver. After two well-received EP’s, this crew step up with their first full length and Misanthropic Path Of Carnal Deliverance is an album that sets a new level of musical brutality.
A good opener can really set the scene and hint at what’s to come, and that’s exactly what ‘Ouverture’ does. It’s an instrumental of such weight that it can’t be measured. Drummer Mortem certainly makes his presence felt and his drums are big and boomy and sound as if they were recorded in the deepest recesses of Dante’s Inferno, and the whole vibe is not unlike standing at the gates of Hell. Those gates swing open with the arrival of the following ’The Grimoire Of Insanity’ and it certainly unleashes the hounds; the vocals are suitably Satanic, whilst the guitar entombs the listener within an impenetrable wall of blistering riffs. Make no mistake; Hexekration Rites deal in the hard stuff and that’s exactly what they serve up, there’s no dipping below danger level, and if you need proof, look no further than ‘The Seal Of Annihilation’. It’s a musical steamroller come to crush all in its path, it’s an unstoppable beast that’s powered forth by a kind of demonic force. Or take the bass rumble that underpins ‘Apocalyptic Sermon’, it’s bowel-loosening and I’m sure Lemmy is somewhere raising a glass of whiskey if affirmation.
With this Hexekration Rites album, there’s a level of heaviness below which this record doesn’t dip but that doesn’t mean the band are generic, far from it. There’s plenty of variety on offer over the course of these nine tracks. Yet even when they “slow” down, as on the skull-crushing ‘Bestial Rite Of Doom’, it remains a beauteous beast that offers little in the way of redemption. In fact, such is the level of intensity on display here that the listener will feel battered and bruised by the time we reach closer ‘Disciple’. Forty-four-and-a-half minutes is a long time for music this heavy and less hardy souls might find listening to this album in one sitting challenging, but for those made of sterner stuff, this album is manna from heaven/hell. Extreme music for extreme people, indeed.
- Misanthropic Path Of Carnal Deliverance is released via Godz Ov War Productions and is available now (from here).
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Track List:
- Ouverture
- The Grimoire Of Insanity
- The Seal Of Annihilation
- Apocalyptic Sermon
- Revealing The Transcendent Fury
- Bestial Rite Of Doom
- Canticle For Primal Absolution
- The Lasts Priests Of Damnation
- Disciple
