Description
Black vinyl with insert. Limited 250 copies
The infamous Bay Area has a long and extensive metal history. Responsible for many of metal’s most trendsetting acts (just think of Exodus, Testament, Forbidden, Heathen or Blind Illusion) for over three decades now, the city by the bay has spawned some of the most innovative and exceptional talents there is… Hexx, one of the third-generation Thrash Metal bands emerging from San Francisco, were formed in late 1984 and after three well acclaimed album, No Escape, Under The Spell and Quest For Sanity the band underwent some internal changes. With a new line-up the band returned in 1991 with Morbid Reality which saw an evolution from a more or less traditional US Speed/Power Metal band to a brutal, technically-inclined Thrash/Death Metal outfit. With the 2017 record Wrath Of The Reaper, however, Hexx are returning to their traditional Power Metal roots. “Perhaps Hexx phase three is a good way to describe it,” says founding member and guitarist Dan Watson. “This record is mostly rooted in our old Power Metal style of our first two albums but there is a track on the album called ‘Exhumed For The Reaping’ that has a lot of very fast riffs that almost sound like it could have been from our Speed/Thrash Metal era. Eddy’s vocals are very high and melodic, so it still sounds like very fast Power Metal and not like true Thrash Metal. We consciously tried to take what we thought were the best elements and style of our first two albums No Escape and Under the Spell and use that as the mainframe feel and vibe for this record. I think there are slight elements echoing back to Quest for Sanity as well in some songs. Perhaps Wrath Of The Reaper is indeed the best Hexx album there
is… “We think this album is by far our best offering as well,” confirms Dan Watson. “The true test will be to see how well the album is received. We all poured our hearts and souls into this record, so of course we hope true fans of Heavy Metal music will like it. As mentioned earlier, the history of Hexx goes back such a long, long time. How does it feel putting out a comeback album after so many years? “It feels amazing,” beams Dan Watson. “It’s like we have a new lease on life! We are very excited to have the opportunity to release a new full-length album after all these years. Of course, we are much older and hopefully wiser now compared to when we were making records back in the mid 1980s and 1990s. The music scene and climate for Metal has totally changed here in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is not really a scene at all compared to the way it was back in the day, but that does not deter us from writing and performing our style of Heavy Metal music the way we like it!”
Track list:
1. Macabre Procession Of Specters
2. Screaming Sacrifice
3. Slave In Hell
4. Swimming The Witch
5. Dark Void Of Evil
6. Unraveled
7. Voices
8. Exhumed For The Reaping
9. Circle The Drain
10. Wrath Of The Reaper