Review by Michael on January 6, 2026.

What sounds like a fairy tale from the Christmas bakery with titles like "Stoflongen" ("Dust Lung") "Koud Geslagen" (difficult to translate but I have the taste of whipped cream in mind here) or "Sterven Is Freten" ("Dying Is Scarfing Down") turns into a kind of nightmare before Christmas when you start listening to "Walsen Van Hoop". With his latest release Floris Velthuis (Schavot, Asgrauw etc.) and Daan (Duindwaler, Hellevaerder etc.) are showing us another facet of their musical skills. Of course, like in their other bands, they are keeping the spirit of black metal alive but as you can see on the album cover it is darker and more apocalyptic than the rest of their creations. And so is the music also – doomy and oppressive. It all fits quite well to this industrial atmosphere the cover creates. No light, dust and poisonous emissions and a landscape destroyed by men.

But let the press info speak for itself first: "Hexagraf delves into the grim realities of heavy industry and factories, capturing the relentless rhythm of industrial machinery. Musically, this translates to a sound that is slow, sluggish, and crushingly heavy: a fusion of blackened doom, symphonic elements, and raw, raspy grunts that seem to cling to the lungs like coal dust and stale tobacco smoke. Thus, Hexagraf was born!"

Coming a little bit more to the music, references for Hexagraf would be best Aeternus, Thergothon (if anybody remembers these Finnish funeral doom pioneers still) or Runemagick. Especially old Aeternus come to my mind when I listen to the album. First, it is the similar powerful instrumentalization with the heavy bass lines, thundering drums and growling vocals that make me think of these Norwegian guys. But also, the very dense and heavy atmosphere is what shows some similarities to them.

What is different is the (not too excessive) use of keyboards to keep up a lot of tension and to avoid boredom. "Om Organen Te Vernietingen” ("To Destroy Organs”) is a good example for this. Kicking off with some haunting keyboards the song starts very dragging and with a certain industrial metal touch crated by the sound of an ambush on which something is forged on. In its further progression the pace accelerates and the doomy song morphs into a more or less ugly melodic death metal beast. The topping are Floris sick vocals here. Maybe this one is the most diverse on the album.

What is quite remarkable is that there is always something new to discover in the songs. There is always a very well-chosen balance between almost losing full attention to the songs and catching the attention back because something really unexpected is happening. For this "Sterven Is Freten” is a good representative. This song is quite monolithic, creeping and dark and in some parts also a little bit monotonous. But there is always this one special moment Hexagraf get you back while listening to it.

But probably the best thing is to check the album by yourself, it is some tough stuff here and there but once you're into it, you will love the industrialization and want to live in the glorious era when the Ruhr Area was full of smog so you could barely breahteå and poisonous rivers. Make coal and lignite great again!!!

Rating: 8 out of 10 coal-fired power stations