Review by Vladimir on April 7, 2023.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphilia is a new solo project in the underground black metal scene which presents itself with a two-track demo titled Demo DCLXVI, set to be released via Caligari Records on May 4th, 2023. Although the band’s music is labeled as “black metal”, it isn’t a fair thing to strictly call it as such, and I will explain everything throughout this review.

The first track 'The Burning Of A Temple' is consisted of very interesting rock ‘n roll styled riffing with mid-tempo and double-bass drumming, with vocals that although mostly sing in harsh style, tend to change in some form of epic clean singing which is almost Viking/folk metal-like, somewhat similar to how Fenriz sings on "Isengard". The second track 'Always One Step Too Far' continues the same formula of mid-tempo drumming with the aforementioned varied vocal style, and some epic soloing as well that gives you somewhat of a Bathory – 'A Fine Day To Die' vibe to it. The reason why I am hesitant to call the music strictly “black metal” is because the vocals give a completely different layer of artistic expression which saves it from being mediocre and stereotypical black metal. Don’t get me wrong, the music is indeed black metal, quite a catchy one so to say, but in some ways it’s also a bit folkish if you pay close attention to the vocals and how you experience the entire thing. The songwriting is quite simple and on point, where the catchy riffing goes along nicely with the epic and harsh vocals work just right in my opinion. The demo is well produced with just a bit of rawness to the guitars, but it’s an overall cleaner sounding black metal release that doesn’t take away the necessary edge required for this subgenre.

This was an interesting but a bit short experience, although considering the fact that this is a demo after all, it does give a nice glimpse of what is to come, especially if there will be a full-length album in the future. Not gonna lie, the name Hexakosioihexekontahexaphilia is a mouthful in my opinion and whatever it means it just feels like the band is simply bound to forever remain in the bowels of the underground since no one will ever be able to pronounce it or write it down. Whatever you make of it, I am sure that you’ll like this demo and I hope I’ll hear more from this band somewhere in the near future.

Rating: 8 out of 10