X-men... welcome to DIE!!!

Hexagon Trail

Double EP release- Broken Dialogue /Castlevanian Hunger

On a dark and stormy night the residents of Salford can be seen lighting their torches and picking up their pitchforks as lightning cracks all around pulsing electric into the tense atmosphere. In the distance buzzes and shrieks can be heard from the building in which a mad scientist performs his experiments into the dark realms of electronic music. This can only herald one thing. The upcoming release of Dark Electronic act Hexagon Trail's double EP: Broken Dialogue and Castlevanian Hunger. Although they Share similar themes and are being released at the same time, packaged as a double EP, they do exist as separate musical entities and should be approached as such.

With a glance over the four track titles, those in the know may notice that Broken Dialogue takes it’s song names from famously humorous miss translations in classic games. The first track Welcome To Die makes good on this, opening the EP with a sample taken from the X-Men game its song title took inspiration from. Erratic glitched out beats make their way into the song along with low stomach churning sub-woofer bass tones. Filled with human pain, echoing screeched vocals give the sound emotion whilst still feeling scarily alien. A stumbling off balance beat leads through haunting dark ambient In following track I AM ERROR. Electronic noises crackle and gurgle as the faint command of “kill” begins to make a presence towards the middle of the track and slowly winds down again carrying on the foreboding tone of the EP. Conglaturation!!! You’re Winner! Is the highlight of the EP. It’s building jangly beat builds a lot of tension. Drawing on elements of synthwave the song feels reminiscent of 80s anime soundtracks eventually building into a disconcerting chiptune cacophony and eventually breaking way for a jarring jolt of pure noise. The EP ends on an eerie ethereal note as an incredibly simplistic beat is paired with howling ambient noises in All Your Base Are Belong To Us making for an unsettling finish. Broken Dialogue is not easy listening, but it never tries to be. Hexagon Trail wants to challenge his listener and this EP is both challenging and unique. Unfortunately a lack of cohesion in sound in a few sections of the EP makes for particularly uncomfortable listening.

7/10

Sister EP, Castlevania Hunger doesn’t suffer from the same issue with cohesion in sound. The sole track,The Morning Sun Has Vanquished The Horrible Night, is twenty two minute long epic that flows through different musical ideas. The opening ambient sounds of dank wet cavern begin the  journey that takes us through various musical ideas that draw on inspirations ranging from dungeon synth, ambient and harsh noise. Thick layers of atmosphere throughout and repeated drum beats create the motifs that hold each section together. In the second half of the track an abrasive klaxon like beat creates a warning for the arrival of the tracks highlight. A buzzing jolt of harsh noise accompanies Hexagon trails best and most terrifying vocal performance to date. A performance filled with aggression as well as pain. Ominous bell tolls slowly fade the track out with a tone that is as atmospheric as the track started making the song feel like a complete journey. Still as challenging a listen throughout, Castlevanian Hunger however feels like a slightly more accomplished musical work than it’s partnered EP. Each musical idea flows seamlessly to the next whilst still making for a dark and disturbing journey of sound.

8/10

It’s clear that Hexagon Trail is a very personal music project. Frenchie, the man behind the project, puts a lot of his own personality into this music. It can often feel like a love letter to the darker side of electronic music, whilst his love for computer games and horror films also shines through. Yet in this there is still lots of room for what feels like his own unique experimentations with these sounds. From these two EPs you get a real sense of the dark and moody world he is trying to create with his music.

FFO: Autechre, Aphex Twin, Prurient, Pharmakon, Fuck Buttons

Broken Dialogue and Castlevanian Hunger are available directly from Hexagon Trail from the 30th of June. Available separately in digital format or packaged together as a physical CD.

GUITARS AND TESTOSTERONE

Diesel King

#gofuckyourselves

After several years on the live circuit, two EPs and an album to their name Diesel King are no strangers to the UK metal scene. Hailing from London these lads have made a name for themselves with their aggressive take on sludge metal and their intimidating live show. Their upcoming release, the sardonically titled EP #gofuckyourselves, delivers what we have come to expect from Diesel King. From the get go the tone of the EP is set with Mark O’Regans confrontational lyrics aggressively delivered in his trademark bark on opening track Declaration as Brutish meat head riffs begin their trudging march through the song. The guitar tones are crunchy and riffs groove laden throughout the EP, The drums hammering out steady streams of double bass pedal whenever needed. Mark’s vocals swing from aggressive barks to occasional burst of disgusting gutturals but are always dripping with testosterone. The EP’s highlight, a track titled Cut The Cord, turns up the pace with chugging metallic hardcore riffing before slowly descending into an unholy doom breakdown and closing out again with groove laden guitars. The EP Finishes with an unlisted cover version of the Phil Collins' power ballad Easy Lover beefed up with thuggish metal guitar chugs and delivered with a knowing smirk showing the band's sense of humour. This is the thing to keep in mind when listening to the three original tracks on this EP, it never feels like Diesel King want you to take them too seriously. Their over the top cartoonish machismo and aggression is the musical equivalent of watching a classic Schwarzenegger action flick. It’s dumb, fun mosh pit music and that is all it's meant to be. Diesel King’s sound does draw inspiration from a range of down tempo metal. Drawing on elements from sludge, groove and even Entombed’s Wolverine Blues era death metal with forays into metallic hardcore as well. Diesel King have distilled their sound into a tight formula and if you have enjoyed their output so far and want more of what they do this EP will deliver exactly that. What the EP doesn’t do unfortunately is strive to show us anything new and the caricature thuggish metal head machismo, however tongue in cheek it is, for me personally is beginning to go from endearing to tiresome.

FFO: Crowbar, Eyehategod, Pantera, Entombed, Sepultura.

6/10

#gofuckyourselves is released on 23rd of June through APF Records available in digital and physical formats. Stream the first track for free now through the Diesel King Bandcamp page.