Birthed from clean-picked skeletal portal into obscene, sterile twilight and adopted by the glowing madness of the ancients in surround Tampere, Finland-based death metal quartet HEKATOXEN appear imbued with the olden lineage on this hyper-fixated debut full-length album. Though it’ll be clear as nightsky what Eldritch rituals of the elder Finndeath gods these folks’ve summoned ‘Obsidian Majesty‘ forth in tradition their work here is just meticulous enough to resemble (but not ape) the impact of their core inspiration. The result is authentic in its early 90’s ‘old school’ death metal standard and remarkably consistent in its half hour plus run, a well above average result for a debut sure to nuke fans of the niche from the first listen.

Hekatoxen formed as a trio circa 2020 between members of hardcore punk band Kauhu and deathgrind group Sonic Poison (among others), giving into their dark urge to take on the classic standards of Finnish death metal as key muse. In doing so they’d joined a perceived wave of ‘old school’ era inspired death metal on the uptick in the last ~half-decade, though they bear no particular scene allegiance or association. Intending riff-built material taking cues from Demigod and Mythos among others there was an inherent ‘War Master‘-esque structuring to the band’s Headsplit released debut EP (‘Utter Darkness‘, 2022) a few years back and that thread generally continues within the majority of this longplayer.

Album opener “Lost Souls Epitome” in particular echoes the barreling pace, rousing leads and snappier simpler-circling progressions a comparison to peak Bolt Thrower might indicate but all-time great ‘Slumber of Sullen Eyes‘ seems to be Hekatoxen‘s major muse in terms of sophisticated early 90’s death metal structuring and smaller details such as the synth which surges within the mid-song riff change. The follow-up of “I Am Them” compounds this idea most directly with its snaking lead groove and spastic third act, spurring on the familiar effect of their first impression. This, paired with the Gorement-esque roar through “Spawns of Darkness” was enough to stoke my mind as a fan of this style, much in the way that the familiarity of recent records from countrymates Malformed and Azatoth delivered their own inspired studies without too-close semblance behind any given song.

Side A makes the core intent behind ‘Obsidian Majesty‘ crystal clear on the reap through its four songs, upholding a certain standard without appearing overtly ambitious or transformative of early-to-mid 90’s death metal action. There aren’t any attempts to screw and chop together any sort of unusual fusion or forge something different from the ‘old school’ components on order and in that sense Hekatoxen‘s debut introduces itself with steadfast worship, an admirable setup for die-hard folks seeking Finndeath inspiration in earnest rather than the face value stuff that’d plagued the mid-to-late 2010’s. Despite nothing being all that shocking here in terms of performance or authorship the cumulative first impression is above average for a death metal debut in 2026.

While authenticity of form should prove reason enough for many to grab ‘Obsidian Majesty‘ outright Side B doesn’t fully uphold exact parity of interest, particularly between the dryly roughed-out “Grave Reveries” and interlude “At Hellsrivers Pathway”. It wasn’t until the storming bent of closer “Vanguard the Dark” hit that Hekatoxen pulled me back into their realm and finished the full listen complimentary to the opening 4-5 song salvo that’d kicked it off. At a tight ~35 minute runtime the second half of the album could’ve used a second pass or another standout to glue it all together more tightly but for a debut their batting average is still higher than most here.

Considered as a debut full-length or otherwise Hekatoxen hits its mark squarely and manages more than a few strikes of black lightning in conjuring auld Finndeath rhythms per its admirably narrow field of vision. As a first impression their work reads as authentic in its fandom, entirely avoidant of cheap groove-hounding modernisms, and sentient enough to engross the senses with its action. Without any wild exaggerative traits or movement in hand it may appear standard to some but in my experience it’d been a steeling event, a record that speaks to the grand possibilities of expansion while also reinforcing fandom of certain underground classics. A high recommendation.

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