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Hellixxir – The Black Fortress

hellixxir – the black fortress

Info

So, I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out a snappy way to start this review, but you know what there’s only one way to start this and it’s by saying this is fuckin fearsomely awesome.

Hellixxir have given us something tremendously staggering to listen to in their album “The Black Fortress”. I’ve mentioned before that I think Aura Noir are the undisputed kings of this genre however Hellixxir probably are very close with this release and I don’t say that lightly.

Every track brings something unique and distinct. Woven shades of colour bring the atmosphere, all brought about with primitive black tones, fantastic tempo changes that provide wonderful contrast and relentless thrash overtones. Production is right on the money giving the album this wonderful dark and vicious mood in places along with glimmers and shards of light interspersed. This has been out since October and I’m very shitty with myself for not finding it sooner.

I’m not going to go into detail by detailing something about all of the tracks, but rest assured the ones I nominate will definitely give you a true viewpoint although they are by no means the only gooduns because when you have a listen, you may find other some tracks that affect and move you.

In no particular order you certainly must listen to “The Black Fortress”, “Venomous Delight”, “Parapraxis”, “Oxymoronic Way of Life”, Wolf Behind Bars and “Theodicy”. All these selected ones have technically compelling riffs combined with black styled harsh and aggressive vocals, fierce tempos driven by monumental drum rhythms through combination of blast beats and double bass and lightning fast lead work.

Like I said, these are my go-to songs however all the other ones are just as impressively raw and brutal but also have melodic nuances so as not to beat you till your haemorrhaging through your eyes. There are also patches of relief through sections of excellent orchestra like musicianship and surreal song writing that is so beautifully constructed even the most esoteric of lines just seems to work in the song.

Although “The Black Fortress” is intense, it’s not “hard” to listen to. Hellixxir have strikingly combined the very best aspects of Black Metal, Melodic/Death Metal, and Thrash. Sure, you may not have it on with your nan in the car, although????????, however you would unquestionably play it when you wanted to listen to something superbly powerful and imposing. (Longstretch)

Hellixxir

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