Hexenkraft "Gravity And Impact Volume I" (2021)

 

Within exception to the fifth of five tracks, this brief EP of two minute songs is quite the departure from the dark Synthwave sound Hexenkraft is known for. Still keeping its sense of diabolic mischief intact, the music pivots to a meld of momentous electronic aesthetic percussion and world building cinematic instrumentation. These brief encounters feel like an exploration into territory Ive heard with other artists before hand, an ambitious overlap between classical instrumentation, cinematic scores and lively yet ambiguous electronic production. The orchestration on Omega Arcane a keen memory of a style and feeling not to dissimilar from this one.

Retaining a little of its outer space evil chills, these compositions are grounded to earth by bold string sections, swells of horns and sprinklings of warm human melody. It feels at odds with its busy web of percussive noise that tend to equal the surges of sound its counterpart directs. The chemistry is just right, the two play off one another with tension and theatrics as the music ebbs and flows in a state of constant unrest. Quite the impressive step forward with more vision and image than melody or groove.

Its final song Light Of The Champion abridges the past with its arpeggio base synths and bright synthetic leads. With cheesy 80s synth tom drums it playing right into the Synthwave trope with not much of a connection to the chemistry heard in the four songs before. Perhaps it was the song that kicked off this new direction. Although brief in duration, this EP shows quite a matured evolution that I look forward to hearing more of in part two!

Rating: 4/10

Hexenkraft "Deep Space Invocations: Volume II" (2021)

 

Being rather fond of this Doom adjacent darkly Synthwave ride into the depths of hell, I thought I'd give some time to this new two track EP, having now built up an itch for the ever delayed full length debut Permadeth set to arrive some time in the future. Unlike Volume I its cuts are half the length but twice as intense, taking a massive influence from the Doom Eternal soundtrack. Gone are the acoustic guitars, soft strings and general meandering to the unsettling quiet of space and nature. These songs ride percussive strikes and dense wave synths to the edge of oblivion as danger lurks nearby. Its breaks for respites always pull one back into the action like a force of gravity. Its synthetic edge bleeds the lines between tone and force as it ebbs and flows in rhythm and shimmers of melody as notation whirls in its dark frenzy. Its always intense, like a spree of action with moments to catch your breath, knowing you've got to do it all over again.

Its reminiscence of Doom Eternal is uncanny. Although devoid of big chunky Djent guitars, its follows many of the same tropes and tricks to create a hellish synth atmosphere for action and carnage in other worldly environments. Track two, Devastated, feels like a guilty partner for its blaring siren like buzz saw cutting in and out of focus like a heart attack. Going purely off of memory, this is either a lifted idea from the Doom soundtrack or a brilliantly crafted inspiration that would also fit sweetly into the games audio, which in turn complimented the gaming experience massively. These are two of Hexenkraft's best executed songs, yet closely ride the curtails of another beast. Most important though, they are fun, engrossing and immersive even if short lived in the eight minute runtime. Its craft is focused and doesn't need to go beyond its means, unlike its predecessor which felt as if it had room for something more.

Rating: 4/10

Hexenkraft "Deep Space Invocations: Volume I" (2019)

With an album titled Permadeath looming in the distance, actually to be released the day the masses storm Area 51, this Dark Ambient two track record caught me by surprise. It is reminiscent of both the Starcraft and Diablo OST's, which Matt Uelman had a hand in both. Its janky spacecraft industrial noises and synths mixed alongside sinister strings, foreboding horns and eerily plucked acoustic guitars sounds like a natural allegiance of the game themes. The two eight minute songs share a brilliant aesthetic pallet primed with complimenting instruments that bridge classical sounds of isolated pianos and warning strings with gaunt bursts of electronic buzzing and mechanical whirling synths. Its held together with spacious percussive sounds, often lingering in reverb and leaning into Industrial smashes and strikes as spurs of tempo muster up brief and claustrophobic surges of rhythmic pounding, mostly dispelling back into uneasy temperament.

The songs are lengthy, slow in pace and forever brooding, usually on a sense of dread or void drifting loneliness. The songs progress swaying from one moment to the next with no arching conclusion or consequence. These are snapshots of time, danger lurking, sometimes growing to close for comfort but never arriving. Its underlying tone setter, the strings, sometimes pianos and guitars too, tend to linger on a few musical themes that lack a sense of evolution. As backing music this undoubtedly sets a vivid atmosphere to be indulged in. At the forefront these instruments lack of progression or movement into an expressive phase becomes quite frustrating. There are many moments and opportunities for the swells of mysterious sound to bust into life with a melody or chord progression. That however is what made the aforementioned soundtracks so fantastic. This doesn't have to be that, but it certainly broods a particular atmosphere ripe for deployment.

Rating: 5/10

Hexenkraft "The Infernal Schism" (2017)

The Infernal Schism is the second mini album from Synthwave outfit Hexenkraft. Its a pivot from the genres tropes to a far more fitting direction. The diabolical theme, present in name, presentation and sound, finds a different temperament across its five tracks. The pulsating, energetic, oscillating synths are deployed at a steady pace with a target on atmosphere and scale, as opposed to high octane onslaught that came before. Gone are the driving, thudding kicks and cutting snares of club EDM beats. Now the drum patterns utilize space as a weapon, casting a bare framework to build percussive tangents out of, many of which are rather gaudy and unsatisfying given the pallet of sounds. Clinging to them, a swirl of unraveling synths, buzzing and phasing across the soundscape. Loose forms of melodies drop in and out of focus and occasionally some heights are scaled by lead synths playing out a form of nightly adventurous solo. There is even an actual distortion guitar solo stashed in here too.

Despite this pivotal move to a steady, brooding beast, the same problems plague the music. Its overselling of the theme leaves a couple tracks out of color. It does however conjure streaks of gusto as its components align with a sinister presence, the likes found from the comfort of a video game. The final track gets fired up with aid from heretic samples. After its opening phase the song lulls with suspense as its synths steadily build to the unleashing of some chunky Industrial Metal style guitar emulating tones. Its got Metal fever and energy to match, a big bow out for a rather mediocre project. A lot of the record is meandering and without conclusion of direction. The occasional Doom snippets muster some excitement but unless in the right mood, often as background music, it doesn't hold up so well. It would however make a fantastic game soundtrack. Music like this often does and If I had gotten into it charging down corridors of a demon infested mars base, blasting weapons at beastly creatures, I'm sure id love it. Its a fair grade better than the debut, the shift in direction a fitting one but there is still a long way for this project to go in my opinion.

Favorite Track: Diabolus Ex Nihilo

Rating: 5/10

Hexenkraft "Hexenkraft" (2016)

With the discovery of Hexenkraft Ive stumbled upon one musicans diabolical answer to the retro inspired Synthwave scene. The music already tends to lean towards shadows given its origins in 80s Horror through the soundtracks of John Carpenter. Dance With The Dead embody that spirit and others like Dan Terminus takes it in a night life, cyber punk direction. This project however takes a clear inspiration from video game Doom with its satanic iconography and similarities to the soundtrack.

Its "evil" inspiration is far more thematic than felt, the record deploys no low fidelity ambiguity, wretched screaming or ripping guitars. It turns in the opposite direction, its synths cut hard buzz saw waves with instantaneous attacks and minimal decays for harsh envelopes to deliver a punchy, snappy, high octane experience of electronics. It initially turned me off, the aesthetics came across sterile and clinical but through its construct does emerge a sense of atmosphere and partially devilish semantics.

 The music has a core of firm tempo drum patterns that rattle off slick, hard, thumping percussive aesthetics over a triad or more of basslines. They groove in the form of razor sharp waves toting dexterous, textural oscillations off one another. Its a driving force in the low range that leaves room for its lead synths to queue in the melody and direction in the spaces above. Once again its achieved with slick and pristine wave forms, often transitioning through some form of phase effect on its journey.

The Hexenkraft name and evil intention is a little overplayed in comparison to the musics tone. Its final of four tracks does strike a nerve with an audio sample, probably from a horror movie. Two figures exchang dialog of diabolic inspiration and the ferocity of the possessed individuals voice brings a menace and danger the instrumentals don't muster on their own. Its been a fun listen but the name and nefarious artwork oversells itself in comparison to what other artists have done with this theme.

Favorite Track: Inspirati A Diabolo

Rating: 4/10