Track Premiere: Hekatoxen – “Grave Reveries”
Citing bands like Demigod, Sentenced, and Adramelech as similar acts, the brand of death metal that Finnish band Hekatoxen evokes is relatively clear: no-frills rippers deeply indebted to their homeland’s nineties scene. Formed in 2020, the upcoming Obsidian Majesty record will be the band’s first full-length (following up 2022’s Utter Darkness EP), which is an important make-or-break moment for any band – metal or otherwise. Moreover, its increasingly difficult for death metal groups to stake their claim in the scene due to the metric shit-ton of metal music that comes out every Friday (or whenever else bands decide to drop their latest work) – especially when said metal music is clearly pulling from the work of their predecessors.
This isn’t to say that Hekatoxen’s output is derivative or uninspired (we all build off the shoulders of giants), but rather that it takes one of two things to make people really remember your name when it comes to OSDM-likes:
A) You bring a novelty or pizazz to the genre that differentiates it from peers and precursors alike.
B) You nail the style and use it as a vehicle for satisfying and engaging songwriting.
As for where our friends in Hekatoxen land, I’d say firmly in the B column, as the lead single, “Lost Souls Epitome,” and the track we have the honor of debuting to the metal masses, “Grave Reveries,” both display a solid level of riff-crafting and general rip-snorting death metal. Whereas the former is a longer, more sprawling cut with regular pace changes and distinct parts, “Grave Reveries” is an all-killer display of great force from the group. It’s catchy and enveloping enough to stand on its own, divorced from the retread ground it is built upon. Yet, at the same time, that familiarity gives your ears something to grip onto, delicately balancing the two modes (that’s the only thing delicate about this song).
As for what the group has to say about the song:
“Grave Reveries was the final song composed for Obsidian Majesty, and it became one of the album’s heaviest and darkest passages. A dreamlike descent beyond life, into the stillness and beauty of death, where all is absolute.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself (believe me, I tried!). You can see the dark passages here for yourself:
