POLAR VEIL

This is perhaps not so much a review as a warning; HEXVESSEL is a neo folk/prog folk group that has occasionally applied a heavy cloak and even threw their spiral triskele in the woods a few times but somebody either retrieved it or it miraculously crawled out. No such luck on this their 6th full length album, which obliterates all roots with impossibly heavy distorted guitars. I don't know whether to crank the volume so I can hear the vocals and the other inundated arrangements (that doesn't help I might add) or mute the whole affair. The paces tend to be slow, in fact more plodding than the band's other offerings, but, apart from the overdone conveyance of icy isolation which presumably suits the album themes, and the heavy handed brilliance of "Older than the Gods" and to a lesser extent "Ring", "Polar Veil" utterly sacrifices identity at the "we need to do a metal album" altar.. Let's hope these non-ASMR chills are temporary.