### The Levitation Hex: The levitation hex

#### 20/12/12 || Smalley

The Levitation Hex is an Aussie, avant-garde/progressive “death metal” band (supposedly), and this self-titled is their first album, though my untrained ears would call them much more of an avant-garde hodgepodge of sludge/doom/hardcore, due to their guitar tone/vocals… and not so much death metal, no sir. It begins promisingly with a clean, spacey, post rock-y soundscape (along with maybe some hints of Mastodon influence), but my interest waned when the heavy, sludge-y verses started coming in. It just doesn’t work put alongside their artsier touches, especially with their singer’s annoyingly strangled, hardcore-ish growl.

TLH is a talented band instrumentally, and have good songwriting energy/performance chemistry, but the basic sound they’re going for here just didn’t grab me, but that isn’t necessarily because they’re incompetent at it per se. Maybe it’s just because I’m not cut out for this style at all (can’t know for sure, I haven’t listened to many other bands similar to them, so I don’t have many good musical points of reference). Then again, maybe it’s just because they really aren’t that good at what they do; I really can’t know, going off my preferences/previous musical experiences, so take that as you will.

6/10: You are now leaving Suckville, Alabama.