Hexer - Realm of the Feathered Serpent (2020)^{Release ID: 24204}

I really loved Hexer's debut, 2017's Cosmic Doom Ritual, it's ominous, sludge-heavy doom was right up my street. Three years on and in a world that is seemingly turning to shit, Hexer's portentious doom seems even more relevant to the world as we are coming to know it and may well be the perfect soundtrack to the impending apocalypse. This time around the tracks are a little shorter, with five of the six in the 6-8 minute range, rather than the 10-12 minutes of the debut. This shortening of the tracks means they build a little less and don't have quite the same disturbing, extended, hypnotic vibe, but it does make them feel a little more vital and desperate as if blurting out their message of inescapable doom to the unsuspecting listener. The band still retains that irresistible, sludgy sound that sucks at your ears like plodding through thick, sucking mud although it also has an echoing quality that sounds at times as if heard along the length of a particularly damp and unpleasant abandoned railway tunnel. It is kind of like Autopsy-style death doom with a "twang" that feels like it was appropriated from bands like The Cramps or The Misfits. The atmosphere is increased by the addition of Lucas Schmücker's subtlely-layered synths and vocalist/guitarist Marvin Giehr's harsh roar provides the album's lyrical expression.

I don't want to give the impression that this is a homogenously slow album because a lot of it isn't and sometimes the band really let rip, such as during closer Typhon, then drummer Melvin Cieslar batters the living shit out of his kit and they hurtle headlong in a dynamic, downtuned mad dash as Giehr roars his defiance into this irresistible gale.

Hexer seem a criminally overlooked outfit to my mind and this, along with the debut, are a couple of the more interesting albums in the doom world from a band that, rather than trying to be cynical clones of earlier successful acts, are instead more interested in releasing personal and heartfelt expressions of a doom-centric view of the world and I say good luck to 'em!