Review: Haunt by Vexing Hex

When Ghost appeared on the scene a decade ago (damn I feel old!) they were one of the most exciting and oddball bands to appear in a long time, and their rise to fame was justifiably rapid and influential. It's unsurprising to see a wave of bands now coming through in their wake, and of all the bands I've heard from this scene Vexing Hex are probably the strongest. Musically the similarities to Ghost are indeed striking and they do a borrow a number of very specific elements from them too on their debut album. It would be dismissive of me to simply strike this Illinois trio off as a mere clone though, Vexing Hex definitely have more to them than that. Besides, with Tobias Forge's credibility sitting in the gutter right now it's pleasing to be able to listen to a fresh act take up the occult metal banner in an authentic way.

Haunt begins with the intro track Hymn, a short but atmospheric mesh of droning choral harmonies. The vocal harmonies throughout the record are particularly well composed, unsurprising considering the group have a background in barbershop vocal music. The first track proper Revenant is a concoction of familiar duelling guitar and organ riffs backed by a tremendous rhythm section. The chorus has a brilliant hook emphasised perfectly by those haunting vocal harmonies. The middle section wanders into prog territory with some wiggling organ leads and a cracking guitar solo, and despite the seven minute length the track never outstays it's welcome, particularly with it's ambient choral outro.

Planet Horror sees the band kick things up a gear and bring in some Cramps style garage rock influences. The track bounces from flurries of goth punk riffing into some creeping melodic passages, while the vocals here are particularly diverse, at various points sounding like Danzig, Milo Aukerman and Buck Dharma. Build Your Wall really turns up the prog rock influence, with the spacey organ taking a key role and the jagged guitar riffs cutting through the warped vocals like a knife through rather psychedelic butter. It's still got a great hook to it though in the chorus despite the deliberately weird melodies.

 The hooks seem to fade into the ether a little on Living Room, and while it isn't the strongest cut on the album I do appreciate the details such as the little pinch harmonic in the verse and the lovely nuanced jazzy drumming. The melodies give me some nice Holy Bible-era Manic Street Preachers vibes with their dark and disturbing chord movements and Pantera meets Bauhaus style riffing. Thy Will Be Done is a more gentle acoustic-ish number with some particularly striking bass playing, but it uses the Ghost lyrical trope of discussing Satan in a specifically Biblical God-like way which feels, for want of a better word, a little contrived. The guitar solo though is fantastic and a real highlight, getting the combination of musicality and melody absolutely spot on.

The final track Rise From The Grave is a great foot-stomping way to finish the record, the riffs eliciting some awesome trad-metal melodies and the vocals urging a grand sing-a-long. The ending teases a heavy chugging finale but the band resist the urge and instead dive back into the hook head first for the finish. It's a memorable closing song and a great way to aurally summarise everything the band have achieved on this record.

Although at times Vexing Hex fall into the trap of sounding a little too much like Ghost, there are moments of variety on this record that show a band with far reaching potential. The touches of gothic garage rock and prog rock weirdness show a musical knowledge stretching beyond the obvious influences, and the ethereal vocal harmonies that thread themselves throughout the record are an element the band can really use as a future trademark sound. There are signs that this is just the beginning for Vexing Hex's musical progression, but what they have produced with Haunt is already a highly impressive album.

Haunt was originally released in 2018 but has recently been given a fantastic physical release via Wise Blood Records which can be ordered here.

You can listen to more music from Vexing Hex on their Bandcamp page here.