Hexrot - Formless Ruin of Oblivion Review by Ryan Cameron

Not much is known today about the life led by Hieromonius Bosch. Modern understanding of Bosch comes more from the context of the world he existed in when he created masterworks like “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. The triptych is a fantasia of medieval anxiety, a delirious didactic of human creation, sin, and inevitable damnation. One can get lost in the overwhelming details within each absurd scene depicted. 

There is a tradition among bands to incorporate these scenes into their album covers. Dead Can Dance uses a scene of Adam and Eve, cast from Eden, floating naked in a translucent egg, a commonly used symbol throughout the ‘Garden of Earthly Delights. Going back to the earliest years of metal music, bands like Deep Purple incorporated the middle section of the third panel, depicting the very center of the inferno. Whereas Deep Purple went to utilize the foreground of the third panel, emphasizing the most eyecatching of Bosch’s horrors, Hexrot looks to emphasize the man made horrors occurring in the background. In their choice of album cover, Hexrot directs attention to the very top of the third panel, depicting man made buildings, engulfed in the throes of existential warfare. As opposed to the more surreal terror fermenting beneath, Hexrot looks at the workers, the soldiers, the common people whittling away their existence, walking tightly across the abyss. The viewer feels a melancholy for these shadowed figures because we can see the bizarre world waiting below. Bosh’s art works to tell a story of his world at an existential crossroad, so too does Hexrot see the world at a tilting point, concerning itself with the current decay of the 21st century, we the listeners are scurrying between man made buildings, choosing one fire to throw ourselves in over another. 

Hexrot’s two members, Arcane and Melmoth, craft a propulsive composite of songs that break apart conventions of its genre. The sonics of Formless Ruin of Oblivion contort then expand in a blitz of colorful and elaborate guitar passages feathered up in its evolving conversation with the drums. The drums discharge in a buck shot style that not only supports the other instruments, but incorporates its own percussive voicing, increasing the full and textured sounds of the record. The songs lurch and sprint at unconventional measures that allow for repeated listening experiences that never feel stale. In fact, with each listen Formless Ruin of Oblivion opens itself to more details to be discovered by the listener. This is in major credit to the thoughtful and profoundly executed songwriting and performances by the members of Hexrot. The vocal duties are shared between Arcane and Melmoth, and the way they weave their registers is incredibly satisfying to listen to and provides a panoramic range that melds well with the milieu of the instrumentation. 

The lyrics of Formless Ruin of Oblivion have some overarching themes that feel absolutely copacetic to the aural hellscape wrought by their corresponding compositions. Through its seven tracks, Hexrot concern themselves with dread and fervor of the end of one’s own existence. Lyrics about the tethers of reality dissolving into nothingness are scattered and eloquently expressed throughout songs like lead in track “‘What lies veiled”  which leads off the album with a stark admonition that: “What lies veiled by flourishing facade/ must come to light, lest formless ruin assail”, that formless ruin is something to prevent through the work we do throughout our lives. The ambitions of man to exceed their own mortality through legacy and influence garnered in life is a ‘facade’, that formless ruin is the end result of not sitting with uncomfortable or inconvenient truth. 

The Garden of Earthly Delights is an artpiece that informs the viewer of the changing views on the christian faith. Detailing the stories of the old testament to visually instruct its audience of human joy and life, and the otherworldly havoc that lurks behind the veil. The second track, “Heavenward” focuses on devotion as a discipline to seek eternal refuge from the formless ruin. The “Rapturous scrutiny fired heavenward” intones the judgement and rigor of religion. Heaven is not depicted in Bosch’s Garden, but when the triptych is closed a pale orb surrounding wisps of land can be seen. God is pictured in the top left corner as he is currently creating the land and seas on the third day. In this scene, God sits not in heaven but in what could be described as formless and inky black in its ruin. Hexrot relays the: “Confronting imminent unbeing” that we all operate under. The chaotic frenzy of guitars and drums reckon in the immediacy of these themes.

The flow of Formless Ruin of Oblivion, is one of its greatest delights. This is an album conceived as a whole, where the songs seep into each other, each track working in tandem to create a near cinematic experience. The finale of the album is the elephantine title track, which over its 15 minute run time really gives the space for Hexrot to explore the various routes that their dynamism allow for. The song is kaleidoscopic as acrid tones move aggressively between its thundering early sections before evaporating into evocative synths. It rounds out the album excellently and will make the listener reach for the replay button so as to make another pass at digesting all they have just experienced. Hexrot is operating at an incredible high caliber coming out the gate and it will be the joy of this writer to experience future material from them.