Hexx - Wrath of the Reaper (2017)

When it was announced that Hexx would be returning with a full length after so many years, I admit to some elation that we might be hearing the long-desired follow-up to their 1986 epic, Under the Spell, a mean and lean slab of heavy/power metal from the West Coat that to this day eludes the appreciation it deserves. I was never quite a fan of the band's death/thrash years up into the 90s, despite the competent, frenetic style they attained on Morbid Reality, which I would imagine was many fans' introduction to them. No, I truly hoped that whatever nostalgia or midlife crisis provoked the group into reformation would be one for their burning early years, and hearing the track "Burn or Boil", from last year's split with another veteran Californian act, Ruthless, with vocals similar to Dan Bryant's on the aforementioned 1986 sophomore, was everything I had hoped for. Fast, potent, memorable power/speed metal with only a few hints at the thrashier edge they spiraled off into right before their initial heat death. Even better: there was a version WITH Dan singing too, in their 2016 box set.

Fast forward, and to see the cover art to Wrath of the Reaper, and the heavily horror-emphasized themes and titles for the songs, I thought this was going to be one of those no-brainer comeback records, a strong showing akin to what comparable bands like Vicious Rumors and Attacker have mustered in their later years. While this is far from disappointing, and gets a few kicks in here or there, it's sadly a bit less consistent and memorable than I was anticipating. They've largely gone back to their roots, of that there is no question, but the bulk of the power metal material is slightly offset by a few thrashier moments like on the pounding, excellently-titled, opener "Macabre Procession of Spirits", which is simply not even close to one of the album's better tunes, and has little business being where it is. To be fair, though, a lot of what I'm hearing on the album is what I would have expected, workmanlike USPM, and the band plays around with dynamics, between anthemic, arena fist pumpers, speedy blitzes, and slower, more atmospheric mid paced pieces that erupt with manly power chord theater.

Cuts like "A Slave in Hell" and "Exhumed for the Reaping" are certainly worthy of that 1984 - 1986 era, and I think overall the production packs in plenty of nostalgia with the right level of gain on the guitars, elegantly threaded lead work that hits just at the right moments, and plenty of force in the drumming to give it the heaviness it needs for the 21st century. The riff structures range from the primacy of old Bay Area thrash and speed, to Maiden-esque triplets and most of what you'd find in between those two poles. Bass lines don't stand out very far in the mix, but you can hear them thudding and bounding along in step to the rhythm guitars, and overall when cranked up I thought the album sounded fulfilling enough through my speakers, and like the choice to avoid going too overly polished or neutered as you'll hear with a lot of modern power metal.

I guess the big question is, what do I think of new vocalist Eddy Vega? For a good chunk of the album, he maintains that harrowing, slicing, near-melodic style that Dan Bryant reigned with on the Under the Spell record, although it's slightly less beefy and catchy. Range is about right, but I was much more often reminded of Rob Halford getting nasty on Painkiller. In fact, there are places where his syllabic delivery and enunciation sounds EXACTLY like it belonged on that album, as with the second track "Screaming Sacrifice". He can also scream high coherently, as on the title track, another of the record's highlights, but in doing so he tends to feel a little more like any generic power metal singer and loses some of that edge and distinction that his predecessor possessed. Considering he's a new singer, Vega does a decent job, if not enough to truly distinguish himself among the field, but I hope he'll move forward by eking out a more unique, nuanced presence.

Overall, Wrath of the Reaper is a functional comeback album that positions Hexx back where, in my opinion at least, they were the strongest. Psycho-death/thrasher Hexx fans will undoubtedly appreciate this less than had they chosen instead to progress the Morbid Reality style, but there are means to find that fix elsewhere, like Sadus or Vektor. The horror themes are really cool, even if the music itself doesn't always lend itself to spookiness or 'evil' melodies as much as its manifests into an iron gauntlet to the face. I liked the album, even if I was hoping for more, and some songs are clearly stronger than others. It's also cool to hear vets like guitarist Dan Watson and drummer John Shafer pulling this off today. A natural fit for folks into Vicious Rumors, Liege Lord, Agent Steel, and Marshall Law, but I can't say it'll hit rotation for me as often as Under the Spell, or peer efforts like Giants of Canaan, Razorhead or Warball.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://hexxmetal.com/

Hexx - Morbid Reality (1991)

After acquiring guitarist/vocalist Clint Bower and deciding to abandon the more traditional, power metal roots of their sound from No Escape and Under the Spell, Hexx produced a pair of EPs from 1988-1990 that highlighted the band's transition into pure thrash metal which inevitably also drew forth an influence from prototypical death metal acts of the day. Where once they had flown with eagles across a phenomenal 80s landscape, they now had become just another face in the crowd of increasingly angry thrash bands trying to push a boundary. Neither Quest for Sanity nor Watery Graves found much appeal for me, since the first was full of mediocre tracks and the latter was just a couple updated tracks from the first two records, played in a heavier style, with one new piece (which also appears on this album).

Hexx got a break when Century Media, then a young label with much potential, picked the band up to produce their first full-length in the thrash field, the uneven Morbid Reality. This is a ferocious effort, knocking the piss out of the two ill-fated EP releases, and show the band finally living up to its new direction. That's not to say its a great or even very good album, because its quite forgettable, but the level of musicality and aggression are well balanced and Bower's sick vocals truly carve out a piece of your humanity as they spit and sneer across the album's eight tracks. Needless to say, this is the fastest material Hexx had ever produced, and the guitars and bass were simply off the hook, whether its Bill Peterson's manic low end presence or the nigh on constant ability of Dan Watson to shred in the midst of the swerving blitzkrieg of rhythm riffs.

Gone for good were the higher pitched vocals and elegant traditional metal influences. Morbid Reality is more of a Sadus, Holy Terror, Hellwitch, Rigor Mortis, Dark Angel or late 80s Nasty Savage than it is melodic or formulaic. Cruel sounding, competent, and more compelling than anything the band had come up with since 1986, it's 40 minutes of concentrated mayhem which feels like you've been hit by a locomotive going 10x the recommended speed. Tracks like "Birds of Prey" or "Persecution Experience" are bewildering in their ceaseless bludgeoning, with snarled and growled vocals that are well within the early death metal category. But far more interesting is the nuclear charged "Fire Mushrooms", with its use of clean, effected vocals, or the title track, which opens with low piano tones and then explodes into some of the fastest ass Bay Area thrash that could possibly have existed by 1991.

As mentioned, "Watery Graves" is present here from the prior EP, but it plugs into its surroundings rather effortlessly. The album actually closes with a "Spider Jam" that features several themes from Spider-Man shows that the band have decided to expand on. Its a nice jam and often feels like Voivod during their Dimension Hatross/Nothingface releases, though its primarily an exercise in jamming and dowsed in fluent leads. Strangely enough, it fits well enough within the album's frenetic blueprint of insanity.

If you're one to truly pine over a Swallowed in Black or Illusions, Terror and Submission or Darkness Descends, then there may be something in Morbid Reality to satisfy your rabid thrashing death impulses. It was certainly among the faster thrash/speed or thrash/death to come out of the west coast during the dawn of the 90s, but sadly the songs do not really deliver so much once you're head stops spinning around on its rested spine. Granted, this is an improvement over what they were churning out in the years post-Under the Spell, and there is some measure of promise that might have one day been fulfilled had the band continued here, but despite the energetic effort and higher visibility of their new label, this one was all too quick to fade into the background, and I can't conceive much cause to complain about that.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Hexx - No Escape (1984)

I'm a sucker for albums bearing strange and colorful, fantasy cover art from the 80s and Hexx's 1984 debut No Escape is no exception, an ugly palette of stone plateau pathways and a sculpted stone mountainside face clutching a moon as a crystal ball? Sign me up, I'll take two copies. In all seriousness, this California act were a magical, morphing entity who transitioned through several styles as they would attempt to maintain their career against the phasing face of the metal realm, first a classic melodic metal band, then assuming a more powerful stance, and then going outright thrash metal, to end up in a sphere of thrash/death akin to a Sadus or Dark Angel.

Even if I hadn't mentioned any of that, you would be able to guess precisely what No Escape was going to sound like due to the cover art and the fact it was released through Shrapnel Records, who in addition to being an early metallic shred capital, was responsible for a number of worthwhile hard rock, heavy/power metal and thrash efforts in the mid to late 80s. Bands like Vicious Rumors, Hawaii, Cacophony and Apocrypha are a few examples, but the label also supported Hexx for their first two albums, which remain their career best. This debut was not quite so memorable or powerful as the following Under the Spell, a truly excellent and unsung American classic, but there are plenty of kicks delivered here for the connoisseur of high pitched vocals, borderline hard rock riffs and wailing leads.

This is the sole album with original frontman Dennis Manzo, and he's got a voice very similar to that of Lizzy Borden: shrill and haunting, yet delivered with immeasurable grace and power. In particular, if you're fond of the early works Give 'Em the Axe, Love You to Pieces and Menace to Society, you're going to go ballistic over Manzo's performance here, because its as sharp and piercing as a crystal sword cutting you straight down the middle. In the end, I prefer his successor Dan Bryant's huskier tones on the following Under the Spell, but certainly Dennis gives it his all and is part of the equation that allows this debut to stand the test of time, even when surpassed by its next youngest sibling. Original guitarist Dan Watson and bassist Bill Peterson, present for the the band's entire studio career, are rock solid: Watson laying out big chords and melodic fills spring coiled with finesse, Peterson loud and proud even though he does hang back a little to suit the guitar rhythms. Original drummer Dave Schmidt is an adequate hard rock style drummer with some power to his hits.

The title track "No Escape" is probably the most memorable of this album's tracks, with Manzo's hooky wailing and some pretty busy guitar lines that weave in and out of a mid paced romp and then a climactic chorus riff which completely stands out here. I also love the creepy riff used in the intro and closing, and the solo is pure speed/shred terror ala Exciter. Other tight tracks here include the shuffling NWOBHM boogie of "Live for the Night", where Manzo sounds most similar to Borden thanks to his incessant shrieking; "Look to the Sky", which sounds like some hybrid of early Running Wild and Omen; and of course "Terror", a moody and frightful song which uses eerie guitars to build a steady atmosphere before some bleeding, savage melodic speed metal ensues. If you're just yearning to burn, then "The Other Side" and "Invader" should suit you just fine. There's also a molten power ballad gone rocker called "Fear No Evil" which is quite boss.

Granted, most of these tracks are not so catch as they could be, but the fact that this is an album from the early year of 1984 which is not so many miles behind a Powerslave or Ride the Lightning in sheer metallic entertainment value is a testament to the worthy job these four extracted from their first major studio journey together. This is not the first Hexx album I'd reach towards when requiring a fix, and there's nothing as brilliantly delivered as a "Hell Riders", but in all this should not be missed by fans of the 80s Shrapnel or Metal Blade rosters, in particular Lizzy Borden, Omen, Liege Lord, Riot and so forth.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

Hexx - Watery Graves EP (1990)

Continuing the band's evolution, the Watery Graves EP would arrive a few years post-Quest for Sanity, serving as a teaser to their 3rd full-length, Morbid Reality, which would see release through Century Media records in the following year. The difference you'll notice here is that Clint Bower has taken his vocals even further into the reach of extremity, here bordering on death metal and completing the Hexx career transformation from power/speed roots to a communion of death and thrash metal. But this is a shorter EP than its predecessor, with only 3 tracks, 2 of which are remakes of songs from the Under the Spell album, converted into a hostile thrashing force that would suffice alongside the band's newer material.

You'll notice immediately that "Watery Graves" itself is a superior assault than anything on the Quest for Sanity EP, so the band's songwriting ability has caught up here with there. It's a cruel sounding piece, tightly wound with the frenetic leads the band had already mastered, in addition to a slew of fairy complex, aggressive riffs that ensnare the listener quite the chaos of a sinking wreck, as survivors desperately cling to flotilla, fighting against one another for their last breaths in this world. The remake of "Edge of Death" is much more forceful than the original, and I rather like Bower's vocal performance, though I wouldn't call it a worthy replacement for its namesake. The guitars shred with abandon, and the riffing pattern is a good fit for the speed injection. It's also cool that the band would include this, as if to say that they haven't entirely turned their backs on the past. "Under the Spell" also works well enough, seeming like a cover of the original by a band like Sadus or Exodus. The morbid melody of the bridge remains intact, and again, a good idea from the Hexx team.

Overall, the music here is better than Quest for Sanity, but there is only a single new original song, which is also available on the Morbid Reality full-length (and sounds better there). So there is not a lot of intrinsic value here. Had the two Under the Spell tracks been included with the following album as bonus material, then there would be no reason at all to acknowledge this release, but as they're not (at least on my copy), it might be worth a glance if you're A) a massive fan of Hexx in their later, thrash/death years or B) an obsessive completist. Either way, they are not better than the originals, so they serve as little more than a curiosity.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10]

Hexx - Quest for Sanity EP (1988)

By the late 80s, the popularity of US metal had clearly shifted away from the early speed and power metal that had only just gotten its roots into the soil, and towards the now dominant genre of thrash metal. Bands like Metallica and Megadeth were headed towards the status of platinum artists, if not already there, and the hottest touring tickets in town, along with peers like Anthrax, Testament, Exodus, Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies. For many bands hanging at the fringe, it was time to put up or shut up if they were to ride this new wave of excitement. Some of the more traditional metal bands simply dissembled and reformed under new projects, but others took a swing towards the more violent sound.

Hexx was in the latter category. Having released two glorious albums of melodic, high powered heavy/speed metal (No Escape through Shrapnel and the excellent Under the Spell through both Shrapnel and Roadrunner), it was time to season a little extremity into the band's broth. After parting ways with vocalist Dan Bryant, Clint Bower (who would later go on to play in more extreme acts Abscess, The Ravenous, and Eatmyfuk) took over the vocals, using a harsh crossover style which fell somewhere in between Sadus and The Accüsed, with an occasional shriek thrown in for good measure. Musically, they morphed into a hyper violent, filthy fist of thrash and speed metal, letting off plenty of steam but keeping the ability to drop a melodic solo at a moment's whim. Sadly, this Hexx is neither as memorable or as fun to listen to as their earlier incarnation.

No, there are no "Hell Riders" on this album, and what you end up with is a slab of pure Bay Area speed/thrash that lacks the force and aggression of a Dark Angel or the immortal propensity for evil hooks that launched the titanic careers of Slayer and Metallica. The band sounds more in line with a Sadus or Holy Terror, only lacking the bass wanking of the former and the ability of the latter to pattern intensely memorable riffing into their songs. It speaks reams when the one thing that stands out in your song is the solo section, but alas, that is what Hexx has come to. Almost all the five songs here fail to sink into the memory, with the possible exception of the creepy closer "Sardonicus", telling a cool tale of terror with some low-shifted vocals and a decent slew of riffing, though barely rising above the average din of its surroundings. "Racial Slaughter" at least maintains a sickening, busy pace. Others are not successful. "Mirror of the Past" sounds like a half-assed butchery of Destruction's "Mad Butcher", and I'd be damned if I could ever remember a single lick of "Twice as Bright" or "Fields of Death", though the latter has a nice, frenzied lead section.

I can understand why a band like Hexx might feel the need to re-confirm its identity, but the Quest for Sanity lacks all of the allure that drew me into Under the Spell, a killer album loaded with hooks and arguably one of the best and most overlooked articles in all of US speed/power history. This thrash phase would certainly not have the legs to carry them past the competition, and I almost feel like it soils the earlier half of their career. This material is hardly terrible, and competently performed, but neither is it impressive by any shape or means.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10] (living in the dreams of dead men)

Hexx - Under the Spell (1986)

Before Hexx transformed into a hybrid of Bay Area speed and old school death, they released a pair of great 80s speed/thrash/power metal albums that were unfortunately overlooked in the Golden Age explosion. Heavy riffs, memorable chorus hooks and an astute sense of melodic craftmanship are hallmarks of Under the Spell, their second full-length. This honestly fits right in with most of the Shrapnel records roster of the day, such as Chastain or Apocrypha, but the band I'd most closely compare this album to would be the great Vicious Rumors, who share the same guitar heavy styles and harsh but well rounded vocals.

Granted, '86 was a difficult year to stand out, a year in which Master of Puppets, Somewhere in Time, Reign in Blood and others were gaining enormous popularity and reshaping the metal landscape forevermore. But I have to hand it to Hexx, they released a damn fine album. Just listen to the opening track "Hell Riders", with its dominating leads and entirely kick ass, rocking rhythm guitars. The song is fucking intense, you can close your eyes and immediately envision a gang of leather bound rebels riding motorcycles straight out of the abyss while thunder and lightning tear the sky. Extremely catchy song. And it's not the only one... "A Time of War" chugs forth with a great little melody picked through the powerful chords, then breaking out into a catchy sequence of power/thrash rhythm. Dan Bryant's vocals soar over the track as if they were a fiendish collabration between Udo Dirkschneider and Carl Albert. "Edge of Death" cuts like a blade, the guitar tone is excellent, like every other track. "The Victim" crashes through the night sky with a bouncy, juggling rhythm that would be the perfect fit for two guitarists shaking their axes back and forth in syncopation (total Judas Priest-like). For other highlights...well, there's the rest of the fucking album. Have at it!

As I mentioned, the guitars sound superb on this record. The drums are clamorous and crashing, the bass thick and present, and the vocals mesh right in, though they seem slightly loud, it doesn't distract from the excellent tone. Perhaps it's just the impact of "Hell Riders", but I like to think if I ever bought a motorcycle this would be one of the default albums I'd be playing, especially at night on a California highway. Alright, so I'm projecting. And since I'm projecting, I project that if you track down this album you will not disappointed unless you are a fool.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

http://www.myspace.com/hexxloud