Hexagon

Hundred Headless Horsemen is listed as "psychedelic death/sludge" on the MA, and for once, a rather weird combo of genres glued together actually describes the music pretty well. The Hexagon EP is a four-track self-released thingy from the early years of the band's career, and despite its demo-like appearance, it is rather convincing in its delivery.

HHH's music has its foundations built deep in traditional medium tempo death metal, with heavy hints of sludge, especially when it comes to the deceivingly blurry and fuzzy sound. The production, at the first glance, feels like a bedroom affair, with its unexpectedly comfortable fuzz and weirdly echoing vocals. However, that's just the surface, and a deeper dive into the songs reveals a different beast. The fuzz, the effects, and the eerie layering of seemingly incompatible sounds serve a purpose, and create a weird feverish, trance-like, and otherworldly atmosphere. That is what "psychedelic" in a genre tag should fundamentally mean; while it's easy to think of hippies and their drugs, the context should be wider. Oranssi Pazuzu, for example, paints an alien scenery with its own vision of what black metal might be in an alternative universe, and has very little to do with the old-school sitars, cannabis, and Woodstock of the original psychedelic rock of the 60's and 70's. Yet there's no denying it plucks some very unusual and largely unused strings in the virtual basement of the brain.

From the opening track to the third song, Sleipnir, the band manages to increase the intensity, and forge an enjoyably deep and weird soundscape. Unfortunately, the fourth track, The Hundredth Headless Horseman, somehow misses the mark, and in its more traditional doomy sludge approach, seems like a mismatched closing act on the EP. Gone is the high weirdness and ominous galloping of Odin's eight-legged mount, and instead of the fuzz, the song seems weirdly clean and, frankly, a bit out of place. The three songs before it, however, form a coherent whole, and provide enough of a psychedelic trip to showcase a band with potential for something new.

Hexagon does bear most of the usual signs of an opinion splitter. If reverby and sludgy death metal with a dose of odd emotions is your thing, it definitely is worth your time to take a quick listen of Sleipnir, at least, and see if it hits a spot in the brain. Recommended, but without a binding warranty, in other words.