Seeing Hexen House‘s photo which includes corpsepaint, candelabras, iron vambraces and so on you might be tempted to think it’s another band with a very traditional take on black metal and politics, but quickly you are confronted with messages that convey “total fucking war on impotent fascist scum” and “torch the values of western civilization“.

But wasn’t the point of black metal to be as aggressive as that anyway? In their very promising debut, this new four-member band from Santa Rosa, California, also takes a daring approach to the lyrics, connecting Malleus Maleficarum and the persecution of ‘heretics’ and witches from the 15th to 18th century to the lives destroyed in more recent times through colonization, racism and sexism.

The pitch-black aesthetics of the band are also identifiable in the music, described as “occult witching black metal” by the band itself. What is interesting is that there is a lot of variety in the department of riffs, ranging from old-school thrashy to technical and dissonant ones, as also various tempo changes and song parts, so you do not expect a monotonous BM style from this band, but one that treats its compositions in quite an intricate way.

It’s very satisfying to discover new bands that have significantly developed their craft by the time they release their debut album, which can let us remain hopeful for the development of RABM and antifascist black metal.

⚔️ HEXEN HOUSE ⚔️

BC: https://hexenhouse.bandcamp.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thetruehexenhouse/