Hex Error - Hex Error
by Mark Rowland
published: 13 / 11 / 2002

Label:
Growl Wow Records
Format: CD
intro
Promising, but flawed debut album from Hex Error, pioneers of the new metal-core movement
Hex Error fit in nicely with the new metal-core movement that is dominating the underground at the moment: angry, angular, genre crossing, intelligent and heavy as hell. Like all good bands that can be roped into this grouping, Hex Error bring something to the style that's their own, slowing down a bit more than some of their peers, and injecting a heavy dose of Fugazi-style theatricals into their sludgy, discordant noise. In fact, Jason Hatcher's voice sounds so much like Ian Mackaye's at times you would find it hard to believe that it isn't actually him on this album. The incorporation of this Fugazi influence does make Hex error more immediate than metal-core bands like the Dillinger Escape Plan Converge, with songs like 'Genocide City' perfectly mixing sludgy metal-core riffs with angular Fugazi style post- punk .The same goes for songs like 'Corporate Sheep', and 'Little Jar of P***'. Most surprisingly, 'Transmission' uses Slint-ish guitar sounds in its verses, before exploding into a chorus powered by the sort of riff that Slayer would be proud of. It is not perfect, however. Towards the end of the album, the songs sound too much the same, and by the time you get to 'Mission Statement', the penulitmate track, you will feel like turning it off. Don't however, skip it to the last track, 'Killing Fame', which takes in Shellac influences as well as all the previously mentioned elements and mixes them expertly. Hex Error are yet to make their great album, but this is worth buying for at least nine of its twelve tracks.
Track Listing:-
1 Deerlodge Prison2 Genocide City
3 Corporate Sheep
4 A Little Jar Of Piss
5 Transmission
6 Newspaper's Gestapo
7 The Talking Faces
8 7.62 X 39 MM
9 Mission Statement
10 Out On The Town
11 The World Of Plastic People
12 Killing Fame
most viewed articles
current edition
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - InterviewJack Frost - As Seen on TV
Carl Ewens - David Bowie 1964 to 1982 On Track: Every Album, Every Song
Liz Mitchell - Interview
Nils Petter Molvaer - El Molino, Barcelona, 24/4/2025
Brian Wilson - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
John McKay - Interview
Editorial - July 2025
Robert Forster - Interview
Credits - ARC, Liverpool, 17/5.2025
most viewed reviews
current edition
Little Simz - LotusHAIM - I Quit
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
John McKay - Sixes and #Sevens
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the Jumbo
Vultures - Liz Kershaw Session 16.06.88
Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
Pulp - More
Garbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
Morcheeba - Escape The Chaos
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart