Hexecutioner – Ascension Rock

Seattle’s Hexecutioner; Erin Gravina - Guitar/Vocals, Daniel McManus - Bass and Bryce Hebner - Drums are back with their third full-length release Ascension Rock, which follows a mere year after Tornit and two years after the Pagan Ground debut. Needless to say this isn’t a band that can be accused of idleness.

Seattle is a city best known for the late 80’s/early 90’s Grunge scene, with names such as Soundgarden, Tad, Green River, Melvins, Nirvana easily rolling off the tongue, as well as punkier, Garage influenced fare as The Gits (RIP Mia Zapata) and Mudhoney. The album’s striking artwork, done once more by Erin Gravina, is however reminiscent of the mythological vibes of Saint Vitus’ Mournful Cries which would differentiate Hexecutioner from those legendary outfits. I’m going to be blunt, having reviewed Tornit for Clean Sheets, I honestly don’t give a shit, great music is great music whatever the genre or label which its ascribed, I’m just stoked to be covering Hexecutioner again.

‘Shapeshifter’ instantly recalls the otherworldly Space-Rock vibes of Hawkwind, hell there’s a space ship in the video so I can’t be that far off the mark! The band’s Acid King influence also makes itself known, especially in the vocal department ala Lori S and fuzzy Guitars that are offered up. However there’s a Gothic darkness too, like Siouxsie and the Banshees if they reformed as a Stoner Rock band, the perfect scene setting opener. ‘Usurper’ is a good deal heavier, think Sleep around the time of The Sciences or even the sludgy prog of Yob. Its epic, the riffs all-consuming, crushing yet simultaneously hypnotic. It's weirdly evil and twisted sounding, interestingly along the lines of the similarly titled Celtic Frost track (from To Mega Therion) making it subsequently brilliant. ‘Manifested’ takes a different tack with a lovely mellow Folk laden intro which keeps you on tenterhooks for nearly two minutes before eventually exploding like Jefferson Airplane but with serious distortion. The band trade this quiet-loud dynamic throughout the song’s duration without it ever sounding calculated or forced, it's seamless, even effortless. This is very clever, inspired songwriting and thebest number they’ve ever written.

‘Star and Stone’ wastes absolutely no time, its straight in at the deep end with some truly filthy, nasty riffing that is guaranteed to make your ears bleed. If you are suffering from tinnitus as a result of years of foolishly not protecting your hearing at gigs, well then this is certainly not going to help. For those of us who have managed to be a bit more cautious however, this is an ass-kicking gem. ‘Sink or Swim’ has a bit of a groovy Goatsnake Bluesy swing to it, it feels catchy, like The Allman Brothers, AC/DC and Mountain, but with a contemporary edge. Also if you enjoyed those two Sucking the 70’s covers compilations from Small Stone Records Co where some of the prominent bands in the Psych, Blues, Stoner scenes were covering classics from that decade, then you’ll also get a big kick out of this, fantastic stuff whichever way you wanna cut it. ‘Billionaires’ has a great deal of melody present with some of the fuzz and noise dialled back, amplifying the track’s ethereal qualities which draws you in even further into the band’s orbit in much the same way as Windhand. This lovely piece proves a restrained yet fitting conclusion to the album.

Hexecutioner have delivered what is in my opinion their strongest effort to date and there’s a tremendous amount of musical creativity and diversity evident on Ascension Rock that is impossible to ignore. Sublime.