Although the tape version of ‘Hexagnosis’ was already released digitally in October of last year, this second EP of Spanish Black/Death Metal band Vastago didn’t see a first physical release before December of that year. With one of the musicians of the band being the owner of both the Black Noise Committee and Profaner Records labels, it was not surprising to see the first Vastago demo appear on the first of those two labels and this second EP on Profaner Records. But, maybe even more interesting, last month the USA-based Elf Eggs label also released it on a very limited 7” EP as well, made available in only 50 copies.
With an almost identical looking cover as the 2023-released ‘La Última Progenie’ EP, it might not be too shocking that the music of this new offering too stayed pretty much within the same framework chosen on the band’s debut EP. Again, ‘Nexagnosis’ serves you with rather straight-forward blend of vile and ferocious Black- and Death Metal with a clear emphasis on old-styled Death Metal á la Necrovore and the likes. Loads of reverb and remarkably light-tuned guitars, a true relief between all those massive and heavy sounding bands of today, gives the music a thoroughly authentic feel.
Yet, the overall production on this second EP, compared to ‘La Última Progenie’ is significantly darker. Consequently, these three new tracks (basically just two, if we forget the noisy intro) do feel closer to more traditional “Old School” Black/Death Metal, mostly because of the slightly more gnarly sound of it all. Still the sharpness of the guitars keep a firm Black Metal connotation, giving Vastago a bit of an own identity in a genre that is most dominated with bands that tend to sound much alike.
