Not banners but wraiths in moonlight float and march in the cold air as their blazon calls to battlement the spectral bane in the night, phantasmal creatures stirred to haunt by the return of Rennes, France-based blackened thrash/heavy metal quartet HEXECUTOR who’d bring their restless menace to the culling call of this accomplished third full-length album. Further setting themselves apart from the black-thrashing metal hordes while sticking to ideation rooted in tradition these folks present ‘…Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint‘ as a continuation down their circuitous heavy metal fed pathway through thrashing and blackened extremes. It is its own emboldened step which nonetheless should grip the ear of folks seeking ancient spiritus which finds a way to breach the strictures of sub-genre just enough to breathe. Their work here only perpetuates their infamy thanks to some solid riffs and a few catchier heavy metal tirades along the way.

Hexecutor formed circa 2011 as a thrash metal troupe in the Teutonic tradition, or, more generally speaking their muse and purpose was to feed the speed/thrash metal tradition and this’d changed over time to simply include their broadening interest in choice heavy and extreme metal. This means their first record kinda sounds like Destruction inspired thrashers (Division Speed, Deathhammer) and their second was something different entirely though certain songs (see: “Buried Alive With Her White Silk Dress”) clearly carried some love for those guitar techniques. When I’d reviewed the band’s second LP (‘Beyond Any Human Conception of Knowledge…‘, 2020) I’d not only loved that album, placing it at #75 on my Top 100 Albums of 2020, but I’d gone to some considerable lengths to secure an argument for the band’s sound having changed, ebbing toward their own ‘epic’ speed metal ambitions and a blackened thrash metal style otherwise. This, paired with a narrative style of vocal presentation and an increasingly melodious sensibility is the main reason I am stoked on getting more from these folks nearly five years later.

The big change in the interim comes per the addition of second guitarist Ricky Malevolent (Stonewitch, ex-Sacral Night) in the sense that their thrashing metal machine has taken a bit of time beyond 2023 to integrate the new member. This is of course no small feat when working up to the tautness the sub-genre demands, particularly in a live setting but for our purposes today I’ll say the guitar performances here are generally without flaw, both darker and more exuberant than ever. With that in mind the suggestion is that ‘…Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint‘ continues the path lain by the previous album and perhaps extends its concept both in terms of completing the titular sentence began on ‘Beyond any Human Conception of Knowledge…‘ and kicking off this new album with an opener titled “Beyond and Human Conception of…” as the beginning is the end ’til the end is a new beginning once more. We couldn’t accuse Hexecutor of thinking so far outside of the box as the aforementioned opener gnarls out its first set of riffs, hunkers down and lets out a shriek in signaling their black-thrashing energetic crush is afoot but there is much more to this record than a howl and a rush of speed.

As a still young band translating mid-80’s speed metal between the epic and the extreme Hexecutor aren’t necessarily the odd duck out within the Dying Victims stable, especially as the black-thrash niche reached its point of exhaustion ~2018 or so, but there is some argument to be made that they are one of the more stylized groups tackling both heavy metal and black metal inspiration in authentic shades. The black/thrash metal side of the band bursts through overtly enough on key single “Dogue Noir” where we can still feel some muscle memory for 80’s lead guitar technicality while also feeling the dramatic flow of their blackened outbursts which aren’t all razor sharp or rocking in movement, instead aiming for tremolo-picked upswing in melodious waltz for the main riff of the song. While this isn’t always the most impressively detailed side of their gig they’ve not lost any of their attack, only contained their blackened outbursts to suit when and where it might count most. This is exciting enough but the real deal songcraft and guitar work arrive in an entirely different form.

“Les Lavandières de la Nuit” provides our first stunning hit of Hexecutor‘s strong French spirit via its loose-shouldered and ecstatic melodic guitar work, eventually turning to both jogging and needled-through melodies which’ll likely inspire fans of chivalric atmospheric black metal to some degree as they float past. The banners are raised here both in terms of generating a throng of high-finesse riffcraft and escalation tension’d step but I’ll admit on the first roll through ‘…Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint‘ (and if no familiar with the previous LP) this might feel out of context as it strides in with its patient confidence. This might’ve been an entirely satisfying conclusion to Side A but instead we get a much needed contextual heavy metal piece (“Youdig – Perfides Frontières”) with a bit of shredding and snarling speed metal clangor to take us kicking back onto the battlefield.

The nuke hasn’t even gone off, Side A leads with aggression and only just hints at the incredible second act here on Side B, a shredding and rasping dance between almost power-thrashing melodicism and blackened volatility. Consider the most verbose points of Witching Hour or the blackened LP from Sacral Rage removed from their points of excess and tightened to something primarily riff-oriented (re: “Conomor le Maudit”) as it seems the band’ve set their most ‘epic’ and melodic contributions on Side B via a throng of notable pieces. Lead single “Paol Goz” fully takes us there, toward the potentiate bluster and summon that ‘Beyond any Human Conception of Knowledge…‘ had promised and it is a delirious rant at 7+ minutes but not yet the apex for my own experience. “Kerdis Bras” is the undertaker, the killing and dragging blow to the heavy metal mind as Hexecutor‘ve pumped this comparatively shorter piece with glorious strident melodicism, a chest beating suite with banners raised. This is perhaps my favorite melodic speed metal infused piece from the band to date for the sake of it feeling yanked from a die-hard, obscure late 80’s record but repurposed into the context of a snarling black/speed metal narrative, something like the first Malokarpatan record ah via mid-80’s ADX.

Most of the major damage done on this album comes between the third and sixth tracks for my own taste and closer “Marion Tromel” doesn’t necessarily function as a grand finale beyond giving the guitarists a chance to sling more leads, an endpoint that offers a moderate jog out of scene compared to finale worthy “Conomor le Maudit” before it. The full listen is initially disjointed, clearly spiked with high-effect pieces that’ll naturally stand out and increasingly less interested in brutal force. I find this latest bout of change intoxicating, in the sense that Hexecutor now move from ‘old school’ thrash metal heads with a love for heavy metal toward a sound which is increasingly their own gig. That balance of tradition, an education in the real thing, and their own methodical wheeling out of it helps make ‘…Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint‘ an inspired but also unassuming underground thrash record at the same time.

If I’ve focused too much on style and the eventful riff-slinging of this album but glazed past the production values/art curation I’d suggest this is because these are exactly up to the already pristine sub-genre apropos standards of the previous album. All features add up to a record I’ve held in equal regard as the last and even if this one is more directly melodic overall. This leaves me in a headspace where I cannot deny the memorable, high quality of Hexecutor‘s work on ‘…Where Spirit Withers in its Flesh Constraint‘ though I’m also not sure it will fully breach broader black metal interest, or necessarily hold the attention of the epic heavy metal die-hard. Either way it’ll likely catch the thrash metal attuned ear seeking those elemental pieces in non-reductive fusion, or, anyone seeking a guitar driven heavy metal album with its own bent. A high recommendation.

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