2024 Retro – PESTILENT HEX

"For A Hex Must Be in Secrecy Wrought
And A Vengeance Be Cold as Any Stone" ('Of Hexcraft And Laws Three-fold')

In the ninth instalment of our retrospective series, we shine a light on PESTILENT HEX's second album, "Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow", a hauntingly terrifying and epically grand work of symphonic Black Metal artistry. Please do explore more 2024 DMP releases on our website, where you'll find retrospectives for AKHLYS, ULCERATE, PESTILENGTH, and many others.

""Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow" boasts clever songwriting, slithering smoothly in many unexpected directions, rewarding the listener with a searing black metal record with plenty to uncover." (Dead Rhetoric)

The enigmatic Finnish duo PESTILENT HEX – comprised of L. Oathe (ORDINANCE, DESOLATE SHRINE) and M. Malignant (CORPSESSED, PROFETUS) - delve deeply into the essence of second-wave Black Metal. Masterfully walking the tightrope between symphonic grandeur and unyielding metallic ferocity, their 2022 debut, "The Ashen Abhorrence", resurrected a long-lost tradition of haunting symphonic Black Metal as epitomized by the legendary OBTAINED ENSLAVEMENT. Now, with second opus, "Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow", PESTILENT HEX advances this legacy, ushering in a new era of malevolent and melodic majesty.

Aided by the expertise of mastering engineer Dave Otero (AKHLYS, CATTLE DECAPITATION), the record delivers a lush and immersive soundscape, paired with equally captivating songwriting. The band seamlessly weave commanding vocals and mesmerizing guitar work through a foundation of powerful rhythms and atmospheric synths, creating an enthralling experience.

In an interview with Rock Hard Italy, L. Oathe reflects on the creation of PESTILENT HEX's second album:

""The Ashen Abhorrence" was something we worked on for a long, long time to get it right. This new album however started to build up very fast and we got to a point where we had way more material than what would fit properly on the new album. So, writing music itself was effortless but the last part – figuring out what kind of album we really wanted to do using these building blocks – was way harder. Cutting many very good songs is always painful, but what will make us be at peace with this though is that those songs will be included on the next, third album anyway. It's just a matter of finding the right combination of things…"

"We Depart Only to Meet Again
In The Cold Embrace of The Grave
Where We All Once Shall Rest" ('A Spectral Voyage')

In a perfect reflection of the music's darkened soul, lyricist M. Malignant intertwines myth, superstition, dream, and witchcraft to create a tapestry of malevolent prose. In the previously mentioned interview, M. Malignant discussed how conceptuals for the band's latest work are more metaphorical and abstract compared with their debut:

"The uniting line in the lyrics is summarized in the album title – "Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow". The first album was purely a concept album with a storyline through every song lyric, whereas the second album is not that strict and here the themes are more prevalent and underlying. I have a tendency of explaining my lyrics too much, but I don't think this does me any favour. So, let's leave it for each listener to do the work and draw their own interpretations. A strong recommendation is to get the physical album, as the booklet has frames drawn for each song that extend the visual imagery the lyrics convey. When asked about the cover artwork, it is complicated, as they say. It portrays a moment or an end point of journey if you will - a total disassembly of yourself on physical and spiritual level before rebuilding everything from the scratch."

Listen to this exquisite work of first-rate symphonic Black Metal via our YouTube channel, Bandcamp and on all streaming platforms:

As 2024 ended, PESTILENT HEX shared the duo's plans for 2025 and their top 10 releases of this past year:

"The work will continue on crafting and most probably finishing the new, third, PESTILENT HEX album. Most of it is already written, some of it already recorded and the direction is very clear where the music takes us next, but there is much work still to be done to complete the next PH opus…. Simultaneously we are also working on new music for our other endeavours as well. Creativity and a mind set ablaze seems more often a curse than a blessing, but perhaps we can find solace each time a piece has been completed and released as it is then out of our hands. Which in turn leaves our hands free, just to begin working on something new…"

01. ADVERSARIAL "Solitude with the Endless"

Being a long-time fan (and also label mates with our other bands CORPSESSED and DESOLATE SHRINE) of the band, it took years for their latest full-length to materialize. But it was well worth the wait: combining the dissonant guitars that drip Black Metal-esque malevolence to the brutal Death Metal drumming, blending it into a relentless sonic stream.

02. CONCRETE WINDS "Concrete Winds"

The most vicious, brutal and devastating album of the year bar none. Also, no shame at all of being somewhat biased as M. of PESTILENT HEX was involved in this album's drum recordings, which makes the album all the more personal and special.

03. PAYSAGE D'HIVER "Die Berge"

The third place continues our theme of being a long-time follower of the band, basically for pretty much close to 20 years already. PAYSAGE D'HIVER return to form after a somewhat weaker release, "Geister" (2021), with their brand of cold atmospheric Black Metal on which the lo-fi aesthetics work in their favour.

04. JOHN CARPENTER "Lost Themes IV: Noir"
05. AULD RIDGE "For Death and Glory, to the Gods I Cry"
06. SPECTRAL VOICE "Sparagmos"
07. WHOREDOM RIFE "Den Vrede Makt"
08. ABHORRATION "Demonolatry"
09. LUSTMORD "Much Unseen Is Also Here"
10. ATRIUM CARCERI & KAMMARHEIT "Apparatus"