I have seen Hamerex on the scene since 2012 with their first full length album ‘Rites of Passage‘, so with there new album ‘IX‘ available for review, a live slot at our very own TBFM Winterfest in February, plus I would have even shared the stage with them with my previous band, I couldn’t resist on taking the pleasure of listening to there newest contribution on offer.

First track ‘IX Circles‘ is an instrumental and it certainly sets a scene of raw, classic, heavy metal. The album commences with ‘The Life of Death‘ and I was wondering what genre these guys consider themselves, as instantly I hear all kinds of metal in there. By no means is that a bad thing as I like all heavy metal and in a way Hamerex are unique because they would appeal to classic, thrash and NWOBHM fans, so all good in my ears.

Tracks like ‘Edge of Madness‘ and ‘The Extremist‘ border on early Anthrax with fast verses mixed with a foot stomping, head banging chorus, thrash style guitar solos and even the vocals similar to Joey Belladonna. ‘Mortuary‘ has some great phrasing reminding me of early Iron Maiden with some superb guitar work and the last track ‘Still the Wall Remains‘ is stripped back to a slower, melodic finale.

The track of the album for me is ‘The Night of Samhain‘. An epic 11 minute journey of mythical adventure with some excellent musical sequences, time changes and story telling and that’s what Hamerex are about. Crafted musicians writing music how they like it without trying to fit into any specific genre of ‘Heavy Metal’ and telling there story how it should be done. Go and see them live, I’m confident you will be head banging or at the very least, nodding your head.

4/5

Vince Hempstead
TBFM Magazine
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