ALBUM REVIEW: God Has No Name – Hex
The Spanish merchants of misery HEX are back with their second full length album God Has No Name and are looking to build upon the sturdy foundation that they formed themselves with their debut effort Deadly Sin. A release that showed plenty of promise and exciting ideas. Now in 2019 the band have forged their sophomore release and look set to bring the eyes of the metal world to their home country.
The album opens with Thy Kingdom Gone, starting as a slow, foreboding introduction that grows the tension before the main body of the track comes in to play. As soon as the guitars enter the mix you understand exactly what HEX have set out to do on this release and that is meld their 50/50 influences of doom and death metal into a hybrid assault on the senses. The guitars are tuned way down and meld with the bass to create a low end rumble that supports the harsh, guttural vocals to create an oppressive and claustrophobic sound. The groove that HEX create is infectious to say the least and shows that the band are brimming with confidence and the kind of swagger that a group usually finds far later on in their career.
The following track Soulsculptor slows things down and leans further towards the band’s doom metal influences. The trudging pace and thick layers of guitar and bass are mixed to perfection in order to sound as gargantuan as possible. The drum work is technical proficient whilst not exploratory or over the top to the extent that it demands attention, but rather playing a pivotal supporting role for the powerful sound that the band rely so heavily upon.
As God Has No Name progresses it becomes more and more apparent where HEX thrive; the band are at their strongest they embrace their doom sensibilities. Where Gods Shall Not Reign is a true testament to that fact, shining as one of the highlights of the album. The bass is at half time and the lead guitar that runs throughout is dissonant and unsettling. The drum work once again drives the song and negotiates the changes in tempo expertly to give the track a feeling of unpredictability which is a welcome change to a number that has felt pretty by-the-book up until this point. The mid section is brutally heavy as it slows to a crawl and leads in beautifully melodic section featuring female vocals that add another layer to track that is very refreshing and well placed.
The closing track on the album All Those Lies That Dwells… opens with a bludgeoning section with pummelling double bass drumming and heavy guitar lines in the same way that BEHEMOTH used to utilise in the Demigod era. The ferocity of this song is well executed and sounds hectic and dangerous without coming across as messy and uncoordinated. The guitar tones are dense and play off wonderfully against the barked vocals and rumbling bass lines that seems as though it was designed to cause the biggest circle pits possible when played live. The end of the track, however is a bizarre inclusion. Rather than end in the typical way you would expect a death metal track to finish it slams on the breaks and then fades out ominously – while conceptually this is sound, the lacklustre execution just feels lazy.
Unfortunately that appears to be a bit of a theme that runs through God Has No Name. There is plenty of ability and talent amongst the musicians and there are plenty of ideas in their infancy, but HEX seem almost unwilling to really experiment and unlock their true potential, often choosing the safer option when available rather than taking any risks like they did so well with Where Gods Shall Not Reign. A solid effort, but one that will not live too long in the memory.
Rating: 6/10
God Has No Name is set for release July 5th via Transcending Obscurity Records.
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