Review written by Stijn "Metal Shredder" Daneels.

Like many other Belgian bands, I’ve been a longtime follower of Hexa Mera, having met them in person in Spring 2018 (and having interviewed them too: https://www.belgianmetalshredder.be/interviews/96) and our video fragment of their live performance at Zingem Beeft 2019 is one of our most viewed videos on our YouTube channel (watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT3b67ASY_w). While I didn’t review their 2017 album “Enlightenment” I’m now going to give Hexa Mera’s material a long-awaited and well-deserved shred, starting with their new single!

“Consecration” is a brand new single from the Brussels-based melodic death metal band Hexa Mera and will (hopefully) be featured on a new EP or album soon. The single is independently released and one day it appeared on my Facebook timeline. Being a longtime fan of Hexa Mera, I didn’t need any more motivation to check this new tune out.

A moody guitar begins the “Consecration” single as the drums, bass and additional guitar gradually seep in until the song finally explodes with bashing drums, melodic riffs, crunchy bass and raw but catchy death metal vocals. The song then continues by transitioning between the ambient and aggressive sections, I also love the joint vocal part near the song’s end, it had a nice anthemic feel to it. The song has a dark and confrontive feel to it but that the same time there’s a sense of optimism underneath, just as I except from a typical Hexa Mera song.

Compared to Hexa Mera’s usual stuff, “Consecration” is a slower and more somber sounding tune, which still retaining many of Hexa Mera’s usual traits, tightly woven, melodic and hard-hitting death metal that’s reminiscent of Swedish giants like Arch Enemy & In Flames as well as our country’s very own Spoil Engine. Still, I personally prefer their faster stuff, specifically songs like “Anthropic Principle,” “Dare To Know” and “Union.” Speaking of “Union,” I hope they’ll be doing another song like that with many Belgian metal guest vocalists, that would be awesome!

Despite Hexa Mera’s brutal sound their songs always feature a main philosophical theme and “Consecration” forms no exception. The single offers a critical view at humankind and how the ongoing pandemic is a harsh reality check of how we keep on polluting the Earth and how our beautiful green and blue planet is slowly but surely retaliating against us with more severe weather conditions and diseases. Hexa Mera wants us to look into the mirror and see how we as humans can learn from our mistakes and make the world a better place for everyone and everything that lives within it.

And the whole concept of mirrors and reflections is also a main visual element of Consecration’s music video with the band playing in a poorly lit room with mirrors and water pools reflecting the band members and the dim lights scattered around the room. The room’s lightning also gives the video a golden shade that beautifully contrasts with the band’s black clothing. Nicely aesthetic.

8 reflections out of 10. While not ranking among my favorite Hexa Mera tunes, this new “Consecration” single does show a more intimate side of the band that’s still very reflective of their stuff from years’ past. A very enjoyable melo death tune!