Burial Hex

Started by FreakAnimalFinland, August 22, 2013, 05:09:23 PM

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FreakAnimalFinland

Quote from: eyestrain on August 20, 2013, 11:15:39 PM
Burial Hex/Crown Of Bone Split (Crucial Blast): Clay ain't standing out with his best work here, but its exemplary as a mashup of his old tortuous cthono-tronics and his more recent synth-heavy (sans beat) work. Dolorous cries writhe amidst the almost-metal vocals he's been utilizing for the last few years. A melancholy drone lulls amidst the background and that's about what you get for a near thirty minutes. If Ruby's words were decipherable in any way whatsoever, or if they were included in the release, I'd probably find a far greater interest. It's all too abstracted this way. Darkness for darkness' sake isn't much to write home about. Crown Of Bone is just what you'd expect from the Crucial Blast oeuvre and from a project that does tribute albums to horror flicks and has splits with groups like Steek Hook Prostheses, Wilt, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Funerary Call, etc and was also one-half of Demonologists. Looking at the project's website, it appears they've got 30 releases out and/or pending in less than 2 years. This says it all about what the sounds contained herein might be like....creepy noise then BOOM - noise wall. The end.

I was just listening to IFOTS / Burial Hex split LP (cold spring) and while I basically got this for IFOTS side, I was surprised how good also Burial Hex was. For reason or another, I have not paid that much attention to his works. Should have couple of the early ones, and then I recall also Bagirwa Hymn ‎LP, but theres plenty of gaps. What stands out in his discography, what would be the utmost recommended ones?
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Matthias

Splits with Kinit Her and Zola Jesus are the best ones. Dramatic, over the top stuff. While I despise incorporation of semi-danceable beats, he did that very well on the Hunger 12" and The Tower 7", both unique, soundtrack-esque recordings.

chibitachop

as of the last time I was in contact with him, it was my understanding that Clay's own self-evaluation favorite of his own releases is the "Perennis" cassette on Styggelse, and as someone who has 99% of his releases I can say that I agree.

eyestrain

I purchase his works religiously. Have been since almost the beginning.

Nearly his entire discography, including comp tracks, is available at http://burialhex.bandcamp.com

As far as the early era goes, I've always been most partial to Gripster Killer. Many of his early works lean heavily on the Maurizio Bianchi side of things.

In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni is a tasty piece from the early days as well. Rare use of loops, more high end at times, and plenty of variety while maintaining simplicity.

Also very partial to Goy Godal for being straight raw and lo-fi harsh noise.

Initiations covers a broad spectrum - industrial, harsh noise, ambient, tribal, almost-music-like moments.

Ghost Trio No. 1 is an insanely alien piece built around piano and shortwave radio. I do believe Clay is a truly trained piano player. This doesn't hold heavily in the realm of noise, except for the last few minutes which are strict radio waves.

Vedic Hymns definitely had help from the Kinit Her boys. A more classical lean. Very torturous and melancholy.

The Night and In Psychic Defense both contain his obvious love for dub, dance, ghettotech, whatever-the-fuck while being wrapped in the mist of his voodoo noise and some post-punk leanings at times. The man is certainly willing to experiment heavily.

Six Wings and Bagirwa Hymn are definitely my favorites of his recent output. Just a more fine-tuned version of his beginnings.

The tracks from the Iron Fist Of The Sun split are some of his best and unlike anything else he's done.

Zeno Marx

I've never checked much into Burial Hex.  Something about the name has felt awkward for me.  Some of what I checked out today reminded me of Wood's vocals and Bastard Noise caveman electronics.  Are those influences he readily cites?  More of a coincidence?  It's interesting that he might be a schooled pianist.  He definitely has the ear for layering and more composed material.  It doesn't surprise me that he would conduct in the studio.
"the overindulgent machines were their children"
I only buy vinyl, d00ds.


Lazrs3

I have been listening to the Assumption/ Ascension which is a good compilation of two live recordings and I like it a lot, it does seem to shift in style quite a lot, but then seems to tie in well together at the same time. I do seem to dip in and out of Burial Hex at times and really enjoy it when I do. Years ago he made all the contents of his soundcloud free to download,that was a lot of Burial Hex, then I lost the dropped my hard drive it was saved on sadly. The BandCamp has a ton of stuff on though.

The latest offering Et In Arcadia Ego is good, again constantly shifting and finding ways to still stay linked together.

Soloman Tump

Quote from: Lazrs3 on December 02, 2018, 12:44:32 AM
The latest offering Et In Arcadia Ego is good, again constantly shifting and finding ways to still stay linked together.

I agree, just listening now through his bandcamp page.  Some 80s sounding synth work, noise, industrial, minimalistic sections, there is a lot of variety here but it certainly does somehow still feel like an album.

Lazrs3

#8
Yes definitely, I just finished it now. It seems he has a knack of doing a lot of very different things on one release and weaving them together so it doesn't feel like a random collection of ideas.

I did a review of 2 new releases and 2 old Burial Hex releases on my blog : https://1208fullerave.blogspot.com/2018/12/burial-hex-overview.html

xdementia

#9
Clay is awesome and was also kind enough to release my folk album on his label Brave Mysteries. I would say that even though Burial Hex has releases on some larger labels including Cold Spring that it is quite an underrated project for what it is! Clay manages to mash together so many different elements even spanning across albums that it's quite incredible and I think he pulls off many different styles quite well. Guardians is one of my favorite dark ambient albums while The Heirophant is one of my favorite post rock albums.

Manhog_84

I saw Burial Hex performing in Finland a decade ago, or something like that, I didn't find the exact date but it was at Korjaamo in Helsinki. I remember liking it quite a lot: horror synth keyboards, growling vocals and he was walking around the stage with "päre" (burning wood that was used to light cottages in the past) in his hand to light up his face. It looked like it burned his fingers and the whole place was full of smoke after that. My plan was to explore his releases but never did for some reason. So, better late than never! There's already some recommendations here, but more comments are welcome.

MkB

I'd recommend a couple of the compilation collections for anyone new to Burial Hex.

In Hiding is the most recent and includes tracks found on various compilations - https://burialhex.bandcamp.com/album/in-hiding

In Psychic Defence is another go-to comp for oop vinyl releases - https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/in-psychic-defense-csr197cd

There was also a really good one with 15 (or in some forms 20 tracks?) called Cult Collection. I can't seem to track that down to find an available link.

His bandcamp page seems to have fewer releases on it now than it used to - https://burialhex.bandcamp.com/

I guess one of my favourite releases is The Hierophant, with its companion remix album. Also Et In Arcadia Ego is another highlight.

Bandcamp collection - https://bandcamp.com/m-bryce