Burial Hex — In Hiding
Burial Hex is a band I discovered with the release of 2011's Book of Delusions, it so impressed me I was immediately led me down a rabbit hole of discovery- finding it was one of a number of different aliases of Clay Ruby. Burial Hex is a dark electronics project that recalls the power of extreme metal without the heavy artillery of guitar, drums and bass, eschewing such instrumentation in exchange for a simple setup of one man and a bank of synthesizers. Since the 2007 debut, Wall of Zombies, Ruby has released a whopping thirty-five albums under the Burial Hex moniker as well as singles and EPs. He's also released hundreds of others under a plethora of other names/collaborations including Journey to Ixtlan, Rose Croix, Wormsblood, The Zodiacs, Wooden Wand, Totem and as a member of psychedelic doom legends Jex Thoth.
In Hiding represents the latest compilation of Ruby’s material, drawing tracks from several of his previous releases, whilst adding the previously unreleased "Penitential March" to the equation. Each track has been remixed and rejigged in order that the album might feel like a coherent, new collection of material.
It is opened with the rather wordily titled "O’ Crescent shedding Queen! A Dark Tide is Cast Inside the Hearts of those Who’d Lay Siege to your Luminous Shade", 16 epic minutes of dark oppressive drones and pitch-black electronics that come on like the soundtrack to hell, In Hiding is a huge, draining beast of an album that draws energy from the listener as if it were some sort of energy vampire. The second track "Of Roses, Astronomers and the Falsely Accused", sees us, the listener, continue our descent into the realms of the underworld. It’s slightly less oppressive sounding than the opener, however, it’s simply giving us a little respite before what’s still to come. "From Heel to Throat" continues down the same route, providing something dark but relaxed before we are battered with the harsher tones of "A Kiss to Birth The Rotted Sun", with its black metal style distorted vocals, and electronic blast beats. Whilst this ramps up the intensity it still has a core synth/ keyboard melody around which the whole thing is built, which keeps it from descending into unadulterated chaos. "Backwards Curse", has a medieval vibe to it with some seriously creepy-sounding demonic vocals underscored by layers of filthy synth noise. The aforementioned "Penitential March" is a more typical sounding slab of atmospheric electronic drone, while the short "Magic without Tears" is an atmospheric slab of sinister, crawling drone that oozes through the normality of the constant sound of church bells that ring throughout.
"Pacing the Hollow" is the album’s penultimate track, an acoustic guitar takes the lead in what is the album’s most tender moment, with clean vocals from Ruby. It represents a surprising but pleasant turn of events, however, one cannot help but wonder if this is merely some sort of calm before the storm, and that the album closer, "Feral Blood Vision" will rip away the calm. Surprisingly, this isn’t the case and "Feral Blood Vision" is an almost symphonic blast of occult electronica, almost as if it’s dragging us out of the darkness that we’ve descended into across the previous eight tracks of oppressive electronic wyrdness.
In Hiding is a masterful slab of pitch-black drones and hellish electronics that really puts the listener through the wringer. Very few artists can claim to be capable of writing the soundtrack to the underworld, but Clay Ruby can definitely lay claim to that statement. Beautifully dark, oppressive music for those seeking bleakness and misery on an epic scale.