Hexecutioner is a doom/stoner/sludge metal band from Seattle that formed in 2020. Their latest release, “Tornit,” is their second full-length album; they have also released a demo.
The band’s style is Doom with a capital DOOM. It embraces the elements of the genre without shame—and bludgeons my ear drums with them. The song’s are mid-paced and built upon RIFFS, RIFFS, RIFFS, and more RIFFS. Oh and some RIFFS too.
The band’s approach is both classic and hypnotic—they take one riff, run with it, and hammer it over and over until I realized I had head banged so much I turned into a worm. But that’s just fine with me, because the next riff arrived and pulled back together—and the process repeats. I don’t get high but if I did, I could see myself listening to this and then waking up three days later naked in the woods.
The tone and fuzz of these masterful notes, the bass included, laces their brand of doom with a filthy layer of sludge. It’s heavy as a really heavy thing and abrasive as gargling with a steel wool. Most important though? It’s fun, catchy, and more than worthy of slapping the repeat button over and over again. The album’s runtime is just over 36 minutes across four songs and each of them is worthy of your time—then worthy of your time again and again.
Did I mention this is a duo? Bands with three times as many members can’t get this heavy and dirty. Vocalist Erin also handles the guitars and bass. Her voice is mostly clean with just enough rough edges to it for a solid stoner doom approach. Byrce handles the drums and he’s just as pervasive with his own rhythms as his partner in grime.
The production is perfect for the style, digging deep to pull out of the grit only to bring it up front. Get a good pair of headphones and you can feel your head filling up with the album’s sonic density. Since the album is ‘just’ four songs, I’ll say a little something about them.
The name of the first song, “Skookum,” is a word that means strong, power, and excellent. It could also mean ghost, spirit, and monster. Well, all that fits the song, intentional or not. This is a monster song with powerful riffs and rhythms so hard that if they hit you, you’ll die and turn into a ghost. But a headbanging ghost. The main riff is super right and pulls the bass right along with it. As it moves forward, entrancing every step of the way, the drums hit with a special fury that’s devilish yet complimentary of the song. Around the 6:14, the riff alters its course to a new variation that pushes everything to a new level. The bass gets time to shine too and at this point, it seems it and the drums are trying to see who can kill me first.
“Submission,” is the soundtrack to a giant boulder rolling down a hill and taking out a small population. The main riff rolls and grooves alongside the drums with smooth transitions that never compromises the intensity. The cymbal work is engrossing and rings through the wall of sound produced by the fuzz that's rolling off the bass in droves. The bass ends the song with a clever little passage that’s just perfect.
“Blind My Foe,” is 11 minutes long and each second is like being beaten with a rubber mallet. I like the way the song begins, a little drum intro that leads into the main riff, which is probably the most towering on the album. This is one of those songs I can just get lost in–push play and let the music just wash over me and by wash I mean beating me with a sack of oranges. The guitars/bass change ever so subtly, just enough for variation but not enough to ruin the flow. From the 7:54 mark to the end is HOW YOU DOOM.
“Rogue,” ends the album with its most energetic song. This one feels very stoner doom more so than the other ones, and there is definitely nothing wrong with that. I really like the vocals here, very catchy and have an echo to them which rings out among the space created by the riffs. The drums are very intense, the most raucous performance on the album.
All in all, Hexecutioner's “Tornit” is total burner of a doom metal that worships the altar of all that is riftastic.
Rating: Excellent
