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Album Review

Die Hexe – “Die Hexe” [EP] [Album Review]

Punk bands in Toronto seem to only be interested in purist versions of hardcore or screamo. But what about a band that wants to crossover these genres? Does it work?

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Maybe it’s the fact that this Toronto group sound like a lot of bands I both listened to and watched at shows in my early years growing up at Dupont and Spadina. Maybe it’s the Videodrome reference with the song title, “Long Live The New Flesh”. Maybe it’s that the band’s name translates roughly into “The Witch”. Or maybe it’s the fact that I missed this kind of savagery originating from within the GTA. Either way, all I can say is: Thanks a lot, Toronto. Now I’m homesick all over again.

But those aren’t the only reasons I’m into this EP. Sometimes a band does something that makes you stop what you’re doing and look in the direction of your speakers. On their debut effort, Die Hexe does it on their very first song, “Battle Axe” – after a minute of solid, intense hardcore, the noise devolves into a kind of screamo interlude. But just when you think the song is going to end, the violence returns in a sudden fury. After listening to the rest of this release, it becomes apparent that these transitions between shoegaze and ferocious hardcore are part and parcel of Die Hexe’s sound. And it works.

Every part of this EP is solid. Vocals are perfectly abrasive, guitar work is incredibly well-balanced, drums are tight-as-a-bow-string, and aesthetically the band knows what they’re about. It’s one solid punch of a crossover, skewering through hardcore, shoegaze, screamo, and even some d-beat (to my ears at least) to deliver an EP that knows when to push and when to pull. It makes for a dance of emotions and themes, oscillating between the sentimental, the vicious, and the tragic. A perfect memory of what living in T.O. is like.

Die Hexe Track Listing:

01. Battle Axe
02. Jaws
03. All Masks Fall
04. Long Live The New Flesh
05. Welcome Home

Run Time: 15:03
Release Date: January 2, 2016

Check out the album Die Hexe

Director of Communications @ V13. Lance Marwood is a music and entertainment writer who has been featured in both digital and print publications, including a foreword for the book "Toronto DIY: (2008-2013)" and The Continuist. He has been creating and coordinating content for V13 since 2015 (back when it was PureGrainAudio); before that he wrote and hosted a radio and online series called The Hard Stuff , featuring interviews with bands and insight into the Toronto DIY and wider hardcore punk scene. He has performed in bands and played shows alongside acts such as Expectorated Sequence, S.H.I.T., and Full of Hell.

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