Newly emerged Finnish extreme metal outfit Pestilent Hex announced their debut album ‘The Ashen Abhorrence’

Emerging from the rotten soil of the Finnish Extreme Metal scene, newly formed entity PESTILENT HEX herald the coming of their debut, “The Ashen Abhorrence“, on July 8th. Well-known from their creative outlets DESOLATE SHRINE, ORDINANCE or CORPSESSED, musicians L. Oathe (all instruments) and M. Malignant (vocals & lyrics) decided the time was ripe to give musical form to their Black Metal vision.

Drinking deep from the well of ’90s second wave Black Metal, the masterful first utterance is a flawlessly reverent blend of symphonic nostalgia, modern power, and ravishing grimness in six chapters:

“The Ashen Abhorrence” was written and arranged between 2017 and 2021. Instruments recorded at the Desolate Dungeon, vocals recorded at Furnace 5034. Mixing done by L. at the Desolate Dungeon. H. Sorvali (MOONSORROW, FINNTROLL) took care of the mastering at Trollhouse Audio.

The band comments on their first album and the beginning of PESTILENT HEX:

“It is almost impossible to define what the exact starting point of the band was, as it is rather amorphous – it can however be traced back to conversations, ideas and visions shared several years ago by both band members. As the desire to fulfill these visions grew, first notes for the band were put down somewhere in 2017 even though the concept had been brewing already a few years at this stage. The specific albums that were the catalyst for forming PESTILENT HEX are OBTAINED ENSLAVEMENT‘s “Witchcraft” (above all!) & “Soulblight” and KVIST‘s “For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike” as well as the early works from bands such as EMPEROR, ARCTURUS, ABIGOR and many, many more. These are bands from the mid ’90s – an important time and era for both of us when discovering music. This is us paying our dues to the sound that formed our musical sensibilities at an early age – but also our own take on the genre of Black Metal we revere and have a burning passion towards, forging our own vision.“

PESTILENT HEX premiered the opener, ‘Chapter I : “The Ashen Abhorrence”‘, in collaboration with Black Metal Promotion. The nearly eight-minute-long song combines and intertwines aggressive riffing, blast parts and hellish screams with subtle ambient sounds and powerfully displayed symphonic patterns. Thus, PESTILENT HEX impressively uncover the hidden potential of true symphonic Black Metal, namely the ghastful interplay between eerie grandeur and harsh energy. Check the track below!

The band narrates about the creation of this composition:

“‘Chapter I : “The Ashen Abhorrence”‘ was the first song written for PESTILENT HEX during 2017, thus making it the most important milestone for the band in its birthing stage. It encapsulates the quintessential spirit and ambition of what we aimed to accomplish. The whole album is in a true chronological order, which is a quite rare way of putting an album together, but in this case, everything felt just right this way. The first notes of the album are the first written, not only of the song, but for the album and the band. Our music is built upon solid thematic and conceptual grounds: the intention and drive behind PESTILENT HEX‘s music is to build worlds – dramatic and visual.“

PESTILENT HEX debut will be released on CD, vinyl & digitally via Debemur Morti Productions on July 8th. Pre-orders for the album and a t-shirt design (men/women) are now possible via the label’s EU, US and Bandcamp shops.

PESTILENT HEX – a curse that claimed our souls and plagued our dreams; a sound that still haunts and possesses us…

PESTILENT HEX is a new band hailing from Finland that drinks deep from the well of the second wave Black Metal tradition – balancing a fine line of symphonic elements but still being firmly rooted in Metal, nevertheless retaining high integrity and artistry.

The band consists of two people, perhaps more well-known from the Death and Doom Metal circles, yet Black Metal is something that has flowed in their veins since the mid-nineties and it constitutes a praxis they grew up with.

The idea of this band was born out of the necessity to pay dues to the genre that formed the musicians and their musical sensibilities. But more importantly, from the ambition to craft a vision of their own what this Art should sound like.

“The Ashen Abhorrence” is the band’s first release. It took them five years of arduous labor and maddening inspiration to complete it. It is a concept album musically and lyrically, that dwells into Faustian aspirations, witchcraft, possession, and the realm beyond – ending in harrowing results.