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Extinction > The Black Hex > Reviews
Extinction - The Black Hex

Yes bore me … bore me to death! - 22%

oneyoudontknow, April 18th, 2008

Music can be noisy, can consist of a good deal of ambient, can be wild and extreme and can be this and that and a lot of more. Yes, music can be created in a great variety of different styles and approaches, but not all would lead to something audible or enjoyable; something to listen to when reading a book or driving a car. Some kind of music is simply inappropriate for this and The Black Hex of Extinction is certainly one of those.

The concept behind this record is the inexistence of it. Abruptum is mentioned a lot in regard to this EP and I still have to check out the releases from this Swedish band; therefore I am unable to prove any kind of resemblance between this EP and the band from Scandinavia.

Extinction tries, this word reflects the left impression pretty well, to create a mixture of ambient, noise and black metal, whereas the emphasis lies on the latter part, but only in the respect that the core elements have been taken from there. In comparison with the widespread approach to create black metal, not much of it would be discovered on this release. A short burst of riffs here and a motive or two there, is what can be found in terms of the usage of the instruments. Some stronger resemblance to the aforementioned genre exists in terms of the vocals, which are a mixture of distorted screams and some appearing occasionally moaning. These elements have been thrown together with noisy samples and keyboards, but rather randomly and not with some red-line like each listener would expect it and how it is commonly used in the music scene. All of these are used only for a short time and the amounts of changes in them are on a high level. Despite the extraordinary level of weirdness which is reflected through this, most of the music is actually listenable, but not really entertaining. After several passes of the album, the listener is left with some feeling of emptiness.

Despite the great variety of ideas and variation on the release, it simply lacks of depth. Once or twice and to some also thrice this record might be fascinating due to the absence of everything that is ordinary. Looking at it from a longer period of time though, the focus has shifted and boredom has substituted the previously existent fascination. Without any catchiness, without any form of outstanding riffs or motives, the music has only its atmosphere to offer, but it consists not of such a quality to fascinate the listener after several weeks or so. This release is “quick and dirty”: once enjoyed, but soon forgotten and finally it reaches fast the ordinary level it has so desperately tried to avoid. Fail!

Twisted ritual depravity - 91%

torn, October 18th, 2005

‘The Black Hex’ is 18 minutes of pure darkness; a filthy, grimy collision of ritual black metal and doom/drone that is unlike anything I’ve heard in years. The only comparison that comes to mind is early Abruptum, but really this is in a league of its own.
There’s very little in the way of actual music here; instead we get what sounds like an improvised cacophony of screeching, wailing guitars, piercing keyboards and sound effects, and seemingly random drumming. Vocals are screeched, moaned, growled, and always completely inhuman.
What ‘The Black Hex’ lacks in structure (although, in this case, this lack of structure is very much a positive thing), it more than makes up for in atmosphere. Imagine The Axis Of Perdition at their most twisted; Extinction makes them sound like pop music.
Doubtless some people will dismiss this as mere noise, but then this type of music was never intended for everybody, and it’s certainly not meant to be enjoyed. If you’re searching for a record of malicious, twisted evil, then you won’t find much better than this.