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Onto the second part of out top 10 albums that inspired the artists on the MSH roster. This blog will be dedicated frontman and sole creator of Hexivoid 'Jorgen Kirby' - with the top 10 albums that inspired him for his project of Cosmic Horrors and Atmospheric Black Metal.
10. Craft - Terror Propaganda
First and foremost in this list are Swedish Black Metal legions CRAFT. For me, CRAFT are a perfect example of dissonant, sparse and evil Black Metal that have plenty of groove and memorability. This is Black Metal that packs one hell of a punch and will be shaking your skull after the record stops. Absolutely essential to any Black Metal fans collection and a huge influence in the groovier parts seen across both HEXIVOID records.
9. DeathSpell Omega - The synarchy Of Molten Bones
While DEATHSPELL OMEGA have influenced the more experimental and ground-breaking ideas of how a guitar can be used in Black Metal for far longer than the 4 years this album has been out, it feels like the one I revisit most. Though most of their records have played a part in my cosmic, sonic assaults, “The Synarchy...” feels like their most concise and yet meditated record and is as ferociously depraved as ever.
8. Svartidaudi - Flesh Cathedral
Svartidaudi are perhaps my favourite Black Metal band from Iceland, certainly the one I heard first and the one that left me in awe. Their debut full length “Flesh Cathedral” is some of the most pioneering Black Metal of recent years that manages to be as psychedelically complex and richly textures as it is brutish and devastatingly caustic. This is certainly a balance HEXIVOID strives for in our cosmic conquering of mankind’s weak spirits and SVARTIDAUDI laid out the formula for one of the routes we take.
7. Misthyrming - Algleymi
The 2nd MISTHYRMING album actually came out after the first HEXIVOID album, so it is a newer influence however a very important one. If you noted the huge step up in melodic complexity and more intricate chord use that still feels atonal and dark on the 2nd HEXIVOID album, that can largely be attributed to “Algleymi” which is one of my most played records of the last year. To me this is exactly the maturity and yet uncompromising assault that Black Metal deserves in the 21st century.
6. Black Cilice - Banished From Time
Perhaps the most dominant force of eerie, cold and raw Black Metal from Portugal, Black Cilice are not just weak reverberate riffs recorded poorly. This project has a haunting, spectral and utterly unrelenting sense of dreadful anguish. HEXIVOID is raw out of necessity, I make music that is spewed out of me by a more powerful cosmic mind, rawness is part of the urgency to document this. Black Cilice is a band that proves raw doesn't equal dull or lazy, something that should be respected with a landslide of piss-weak imitators.
5. Teitanblood - Seven Chalices
Perhaps the least sonically similar to HEXIVOID on this list is the first Teitanblood full length. How might this influence come to be? Simple, the abrasive, claustrophobic and atmospheric obliteration Tetianblood leaves in their wake is something I very much try and harness in the ambient nuances of HEXIVOID. “Seven Chalices” is compositional ferocity at its most unhinged and ritualistic, there is no filter, nor should there be.
4. Leviathan - Howl Mockery At The Cross
There are few projects as daunting, demoralising and disturbed as Leviathan and this is shown in its truest glorification on this demo compilation. While most Leviathan album have left a huge impact on me, this 2LP slab of horrors and disdain taught me a lot about switching off my earthly brain, meditating in the horrors that flow through me and divulging in utter destruction of that which shrouds the mind. Leviathan is horror and horror is the cosmos, another essential band for anyone who remotely cares about self-destructive and introspective ferocity.
3. Mutiilation - Vampires Of Black Imperial Blood
As the early 90s Norwegian scene dissected itself, the French seized the attitude, with Mutiilation at the heart. Sombre, cold and uncompromising, this debut record was probably never expected to reach shores as far as it did but has had just as much impact on the way Black Metal ended up as many of the Nordic artists. Les Legions Noire’s most significant and darkest opus, a truly dark tale of filthily melancholic evil.
2. Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger
Norwegian tyrants Darkthrone and their 4th album “Transilvanian Hunger” have probably shaped every Black Metal band formed after 1994. This frostbitten and malignant 40 minutes is a perfect summary of Norwegian landscapes, underground ethics and die-hard Metal maniacs. This has always been my favourite Darkthrone record and a huge influence on the piercing production style I use with HEXIVOID. Clear enough but murky and mystical, plus the utilisation of simple but mesmerising riffs and pounding blasts is of course prevalent.
1. Helhammer - Apocalyptic Raids
There is not a musical endeavour of mine, be it my many bands, my webzine / fanzine work, my label or anything else for that matter that is not influenced by the savagery of Hellhammer. This mob of unwavering occult Heavy Metal maniacs have all of the spirit and feel that should always be at the heart of extreme music. Never asking permission, just making pure glorious music out of necessity and without giving any heed to their critics, naysayers or faltering at obstacles. Pure die-hard perfection that must never be forgotten either in spirit or music, the same for all the 1st wave bands really.
Hexivoid released their second album this year. Explore the self proclaimed genre of cosmic black metal on Bandcamp with both titles 'Disdain from A Burning Cosmos' & the 2020 release 'The Beckoning Of Cestial Tendrils'
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