HEXX — Under The Spell / No Escape 30th Anniversary Deluxe Boxset (review)

HEXX — Under The Spell / No Escape 30th Anniversary Deluxe Boxset album cover

Boxset / Compilation · 2016 · US Power Metal

5/5 · 2016-02-19
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US metal act Hexx are, I think, quite an interesting act. Not because they had the most revolutionary sound going, because Hexx didn't really have a set sound. They were active originally between 1983 - 1995 and produced three full-length albums in that time, all of which were quite different releases. While No Escape (1984) and Under the Spell (1986) were perhaps a natural progression for a young band, they made some surprising jumps with last album Morbid Reality (1991) and the EP releases prior to it. On No Escape Hexx played a brand of US power/heavy metal featuring high register vocals. On Under the Spell they brought in a new, rougher sounding singer but were still more or less operating in that power/heavy metal vein. Then suddenly Hexx ended the original run of their career as a death-thrash act. In 2013 they got back together and have returned to their earlier sound.

Released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of their second album Under the Spell, the Under the Spell boxset packages both that album and No Escape with a whole host of bonus material such a demo tracks, live tracks, and the first new recordings of Hexx since the nineties. The package contains two CD's, a DVD and a book chronicling the history of the band. I had actually been interested in purchasing the two albums included here a while back before this set was announced and couldn't find them: it looks like aside from bootlegs this is the first time that the albums have seen a CD reissue (there were vinyl presses in 2015). It's pretty great that these have been allowed to see the light of day again. While I don't think that either on its own is either groundbreaking or just spectacularly done, they are both certainly well worth adding to the collection of anyone interested in USPM or eighties metal in general, especially considering the surprisingly low price that the Under the Spell boxset has entered the market at (I purchased at £14.99 and have actually seen it for a bit less since).

I may one day review the two main albums and go into further detail on them, but I'm going to keep this particular review focussed on the merits of the Under the Spell boxset as a package. Suffice to say that both albums represent classic sounding metal that can't be gone far wrong with. Under the Spell is probably the more accessible of the two as high register vocals aren't everyone's cup of tea, but both certainly have equal merits in different ways.

Since the set is named after Under the Spell that's the album that appears first in the set. Hexx changed vocalist a few times in their career and the singer here is Dan Bryant. It's fair to say that disc 1 is the Bryant disc. It contains the album, a live rendition of Edge of Death, demo versions of the Under the Spell album and most notably for long standing Hexx followers, two new songs from 2014, which are called Burn or Boil and Swimming the Witch. Since they feature Bryant as vocalist it should come as no surprise that they fit well with the Under the Spell album. Burn or Boil is a fast piece while Swimming the Witch takes a more mid-paced approach.

The second disc follows a pattern similar to the first. The singer on the No Escape album is Dennis Manzo so this can be called the Manzo disc, though it does close with a small selection of live songs from Hexx's newest singer, Eddy Vega. on this disc we've got the No Escape album, an early demo from when Hexx went by the name Paradox, which seems to be taken from a radio broadcast as there's thirty second lead in to the three tracks. You then get four more new songs from the band, though these ones are from 2013. When Hexx reformed it was originally with Manzo, who sings on these four, but he was then replaced by Dan Bryant for a second time which resulted in the two new tracks on the first disc. These four tracks are known as the Up from the Grave demo and again as expected they fit well with the album they accompany. Finally some live tracks will give Hexx fans their first taste of Eddy Vega, who replaced Bryant in 2015. He is more like Bryant than Manzo and I think that with him up front Hexx are in safe hands and I'd definitely like to hear them continue to come up with more new material, hopefully in the form of a fourth full-length album.

Not catalogued in the CDs of this set is the period where Hexx turned away from USPM and became a death-thrash act. The DVD does however feature some recordings from this timeframe.

There are a lot of features on said DVD. The main two are the band's performances at Headbangers Open Air 2015 and Keep it True 2014. The 2015 show has Dan Bryant on vocals while 2014 has Dennis Manzo. While I think Bryant sounded fine on the new songs on CD1 I do find his live performance a bit more lacking by comparison, though he still gives it his all even when singing a track original sung by Manzo, which he even references at one point that he will try to 'sing the shit out of it', a nod to Manzo's very different vocal style. Manzo on the other hand sounds not only great live on the 2014 set, but I actually prefer his vocals on it to the original vocal tracks of No Escape. Both sets though offer longer standing fans a chance to hear Bryant taking on Manzo Hexx tracks and Manzo taking on Bryant Hexx tracks. I think overall the latter pulls it off more naturally.

After this the features on the DVD delve into what is very much archive footage. Technology at the time obviously wasn't up to today's standards so it is to be expected that the footage isn't always of that great a quality. Some of it even has obvious glitches. It is Hexx history of course that I think long time fans will appreciate its inclusion. Some of the recordings could even be considered landmark for Hexx such as Dan Bryant's last show from his original stint with Hexx and the release party of the Quest for Sanity (1988) EP. The recordings go up until 1990 so there are some with Clint Bower on vocals which open a window into the band's death-thrash era. In total the DVD portion of the Under the Spell boxset is over four hours long. Between this and both CD's there are over one hundred recordings included. Of course there is a lot of repetition especially between the live tracks but I guess that's always the case with a retrospective type release. It's not as if each live cut of the same track is the same though. You get to hear ones like Edge of Death done by four different vocalists for example.

The book in the set is quite substantial too, being a 56 page read. It contains the story behind each album including those not included in set as well as an interview with Hexx mainman Dan Watson (guitars). I confess that I have not actually gotten around to reading the book yet and I didn't want to delay my review for this set for it, but it's easy to tell from a glance that it's a worthwhile addition to the set given the length. Again this is something I think longer standing Hexx fans than me will appreciate all the more. The book is full of colour pictures too where they were available: no expense has been spared here.

While Morbid Reality would also have had to have been included to make this a truly complete Hexx experience, there isn't really anything to complain about with the Under the Spell boxset. Given the price the amount of material on offer is both staggering and insane. While neither individual album commands a top tier rating to my ears, I'm rating this set based on value as a package and I find it unbeatable.