I was listening to 'Transgression' last night for the first time in years. Such an excellent demo. I think the production is a bit thin and sharp to do the songs total justice but the songwriting itself is superb. Two raging brutal pieces of death metal that ooze total Morbid Angel vibes and two more moody pieces that nod to Opeth while still retaining elements of utter savagery.
I think this is the zenith of the band's output. The 'Where Gods Look Away' 7" and 'Ground Down by Degrees' were cool too but didn't quite reach the same heights but I'd love to have heard them write a full length in that early style that they had developed.
'The Synapse Collision' was alright but they had changed so much and were at a bit of an awkward transitional point that it didn't quite hang together coherently. It's odd, really, that it ended up being their debut album as the demos sound more focused.
'Hidden Graphs' was more successful as an overall release as they abandoned the metal parts more or less completely and focused on allowing other influences to take the lead. Hopefully there'll be more to come.
That said, 'Transgression' remains top of the heap for me. I'd love to see it get a vinyl release with a new, warmer mix (lose the typewriter drum sound) and new artwork. I actually think the idea for the cover was good but the execution was a bit ropey. Despite a couple of shortcomings, though, it is among my favourite Irish releases. I had high hopes for the boul Hexxed, but sure...
Was a class release. I found CT far too bashful about how good they really were and his involvement on MI didn't allow him to push them on the forum in the way they should have been pushed. Maybe that's just my perception, and I'm certainly not criticising him, I'm just not sure they realised just how damn good they were.
Have a listen to ghat track Azimuth ffs, what an incredible atmosphere, a brilliant song. Now there is some hero worship going on, but it's not over the top, they had something of their own going on definitely.
The issue with Irish bands back then was infrastructure. In Scandanavia you could sneeze and find top producers and a scene in which you could quickly gain momentum. That's not a critique of the Irish scene, it's just you might play a gig with Hexxed and maybe 100 people would come if you were lucky..actually I could be jnflating the numbers here.
People were unaware of what was out there..was there a thirst on a wide scale for that music? You couldn't say it had a huge following and what a pity, because that EP is as good as anything you would hear. Imagine a big producer or studio had got their hands on that..the possibilities were endless. A massive pity that they're don't have a huge cult following. Owen was way too good for a band like Waylander, a brilliant guitarist. I know when their bassist had an accident it affected them all a good bit but they bounced and seemed like they would continue the march..a bloody shame.
I love Where Gods look Away too, they were really pushing their own sound, jesus listening to it here, excellent, just excellent. Again, the production is good, but imagine that turning up on a big well produced album..massive potential. That climbing riff that comes after the chorus on Ground Down..brillliant!
My favourite Irish band by a country mile.
Where Gods look away from about 3 mins on...what in the fuck is going on there? Epic. I actually think they might have been getting better on Where Gods and Ground Down. An album.of that stuff and Transgression would have been incredible.
Transgression is one of the best demos to come out of Ireland,loved Hexxed back then,such a savage live band too.
I remember one gig in Nancy Spains years back they got a massive turn out!
I don't think what they needed was to be pushed more on the forum, but rather to push themselves more in terms of gigging and recording. Everyone knew about them, but their live and studio output was few and far between for a band of that quality. Not saying they "should" have pushed themselves more either, maybe that's what they were happy with, who knows. Probably the most talented guitar duo any Irish DM act has ever had...?
Amazing guitar duo. Massive talent. Yep, they just needed more pushing on every level. So damn good. All their stuff on Bandcamp for a quid, it's almost obscene.
Yeah, the two boys had a ferocious amount of chemistry and technical skill. I loved how they could switch moods so effectively, completely altering the atmosphere of a song.
Quote from: Pedrito on October 15, 2019, 05:10:23 PM
Amazing guitar duo. Massive talent. Yep, they just needed more pushing on every level. So damn good. All their stuff on Bandcamp for a quid, it's almost obscene.
Free link up there, also!
Hmmm. A fantastic band for sure.
Transgression is one of the best releases in terms of metal output to come from this Island. Have to say if your tastes are broader then Synapse and Hidden Graphs are both worthy of your time.
Mclove captures everything perfectly in the first post. Then it all gets a bit silly, especially from Pedrito.
CT bashful? Lay off the crack pipe mate, the man was as arrogant and up his own bollocks as they come. Talented no question but being bashful is not factor that hindered their progression. Black Shepard is closer to a reason there. Hexxed were a great bunch for getting into the rehearsal room and playing Laverys every so often. It's as simple as that, they left fuck all imprint otherwise, didn't push themselves at all outside the hard work they put into their music, which is a shame as I think they could've gotten a full length out around 03/04 and held their own touring wise, they definitely would've generated a bit of heat.
CT was also incredibly humorsome, difficult to get on with. Always knew that, but the night that it was hammered home was either Laverys or Auntie Annies when the chap was inebriated, played shit then started a fight with one of his own band members. Mystique floated out the window that night.
Quote from: Black Shepherd Carnage on October 15, 2019, 01:42:39 PM
Probably the most talented guitar duo any Irish DM act has ever had...?
I'd agree but let's see what Brendan and Jason come up with on the next Virc record. Those two are animals.
Yeah the lads are great players no doubt but I don't think they'll reach the same levels as early Hexxed, if only for the fact that stylistically Vircolac are doing something very different to them.
Great band back in the day and fortunate to catch them live.
Quote from: Cryptic Stench on November 27, 2019, 09:26:21 PM
Hmmm. A fantastic band for sure.
Transgression is one of the best releases in terms of metal output to come from this Island. Have to say if your tastes are broader then Synapse and Hidden Graphs are both worthy of your time.
Mclove captures everything perfectly in the first post. Then it all gets a bit silly, especially from Pedrito.
CT bashful? Lay off the crack pipe mate, the man was as arrogant and up his own bollocks as they come. Talented no question but being bashful is not factor that hindered their progression. Black Shepard is closer to a reason there. Hexxed were a great bunch for getting into the rehearsal room and playing Laverys every so often. It's as simple as that, they left fuck all imprint otherwise, didn't push themselves at all outside the hard work they put into their music, which is a shame as I think they could've gotten a full length out around 03/04 and held their own touring wise, they definitely would've generated a bit of heat.
CT was also incredibly humorsome, difficult to get on with. Always knew that, but the night that it was hammered home was either Laverys or Auntie Annies when the chap was inebriated, played shit then started a fight with one of his own band members. Mystique floated out the window that night.
The personal stuff I really don't care about. Certainly in plenty of bands there is friction and it often comes to fisticuffs. That's nothing new.
On the 'bashful' subject, I wasn't referring to indivudual personality. I was talking about a lack of discussion by the band and in particular CT on the old MI site. There was no review done of any of their demos on the site either(open to correction on this), and as much as people might want to downplay the power of any discussion board, I found it to be a great launching pad for any band in the country at the time..pre social media etc.
I recall them playing Day of Darkness, they played with my old band Scavenger in Drogheda to a very decent crowd. We did an Irish tour together from what I recall. There were a number of nights on the Rosetta bar where they were excellent, but I would probably substitute the word bashful for reticent/reticence now. I'm talking from my own impressions only, but there were a tonne of avenues open to them through the old site and it surprises me how a band of their quality and also contacts didn't get a whole lot further. But it's easy to say all that from the outside. Certainly there's plenty of metal music where a band never played a live gig EVER. So, how active you are, how much you need to push yourself or how much the music does the pushing of it's own accord is open to debate.
I would say that if there are bands out there that play music in a similar vein, with such technical quality, I would be eager to hear them, and I would be highly surprised that they didn't get far more attention, especially in the metal world where people go to all sorts of depths to dig out obscure and interesting music...look at McLove ffs :laugh: Or maybe they just really float my boat and my taste is up my hole..who knows?
I think the music was that good all they needed was to push themselves, doors and opportunities would've naturally come. Get out and play somewhere other than Belfast. I know they played gigs here and there but it just wasn't enough.
Listening to Altus Astrum yesterday put me in mind of Hexxed so I've just had Transgression on. I'll have to pull out Where Gods Look Away later. Ferocious stuff.
I found Where Gods... recently on my shelf, hidden inside a sleeve of a random LP for some reason. Have no recollection of buying it. Stuck it on and was well impressed.
Always loved Transgression - the 'Individual Thought Patterns' influence mixed with faster blastbeat sections sounds great. As mentioned though it would sound even better with a warmer production.
Sort of off topic but anyone heard anything of what CT is up to since he shut down the old site or did it ever become apparent why he did that? These old demos ye speak of don't seem to be on the Bandcamp either, I'm interested to hear this guitar duo ye are all on about. Actually are the samples of The Synapse Collision anything to go by? I'm probably not all that interested if that's the case
Quote from: astfgyl on May 05, 2020, 10:12:25 PM
Sort of off topic but anyone heard anything of what CT is up to since he shut down the old site or did it ever become apparent why he did that? These old demos ye speak of don't seem to be on the Bandcamp either, I'm interested to hear this guitar duo ye are all on about. Actually are the samples of The Synapse Collision anything to go by? I'm probably not all that interested if that's the case
You will find those recordings on the Irish metal archive and I think they are on youtube as well.
I was looking for some altus astrum actually cos of the thread about them on here but they don't have anything on the archives or YouTube.
For AA there is a link to some of their music on the Pest website linked. Go to the store and search for Altus Astrum. There's a link on the purchase page.
Regarding Hexxed, The Synapse Collision is very different to the earlier stuff and barely indicative of their early style.
No idea what CT is up to. I think he got married, had a kid etc. It would be great to see him get back to writing death metal again though as he was a talented dude.
All the Hexxed stuff is on the Irish Metal Archive alright.
https://www.irishmetalarchive.com/artists/hexxed/ (https://www.irishmetalarchive.com/artists/hexxed/)
I have all the AA stuff too.
And most of the Aftermath stuff too.
I chatted with Chris about adding them to the site also, but can't remember if I got a straight answer from him to do it. :P
Always thought they should have been signed to a proper label. Any ideas if they were ever offered anything decent deal wise?
Had a listen to Where Gods Look Away there, and it is certainly very different to where they ended up and much better in fact.
Also @Jobrok1 I keep forgetting about the Irish Metal Archive, it's a criminally underused resource by myself anyway. So much stuff on there I never gave a chance to.
Was the reason CT never really promoted this stuff on MI because he didn't want the site to be seen to be used as a vehicle for self promotion? I could understand him not using it for that. Like if he was to publish reviews or encourage threads of his own stuff it might look a bit narcissistic. The only time I ever saw him make any mention of it at all was in a thread started by someone else and he only talked about the stuff he wasn't involved with if I remember correctly.
I had always thought there was some sort of masterplan with him shutting down the old site like he had sold the name or something, as he was adamant that nobody else should use it under any circumstances. Ah well. This one does the trick quite nicely for me but it's a pity about all of the lost reviews and stuff.
Fired on Transgression again this evening. What can be said that we haven't said before, but it's still worth a thread bump. I'm keeping the old Hexxed flame ticking over until a clever label decides to press it up on vinyl 8)
Great Band.
Those songs were savage live as well.
Yeah ,Transgression possibly my favourite Irish release!
Fantastic song writing and structures in the demo alright. Blast it every now and again. The last 2 minutes of Azimuth - The two guitar melodies as it fades are pure class, could do with another minute of it :abbath:
I saw a couple of Hexxed reviews pop up on Metal Archives over the weekend, one of which was for The Synapse Collision. It prompted me to revisit the album after all these years so it's been on in the car for the past couple of days.
One pleasant surprise was the use of Richard Feynman samples across the ambient parts. He would have meant nothing to me in 2010 when it was released, but in the intervening years I have developed an interest in science which was never there for me before. I'll have to have a look at the lyrics and see how it all ties together.
It's a pity they didn't get a better quality recording for the album as the heavy parts lack punch and power, and some of the more djent style bits are stylistically not for me, but there are so many different musical ideas thrown into the mix that they always seem to come back to something interesting sooner or later.
I thought Hidden Graphs was a cool little EP and it was more focused than Synapse, so I'd be interested to hear where they go in future, if they even still exist.