HEX MACHINE - "Scimitar Blues"

Hex Machine has premiered new song "Scimitar Blues," from upcoming third album Cave Painting.

Stream the song, here:
https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2019/05/14/track-premiere-hex-machine-scimitar-blues/

Cave Painting will be released June 21st on Hex Machine frontman Trevere Thomas' label, Minimum Underdrive.

Pre-order the album, here:
http://hexmachine.bandcamp.com

Hex Machine headlines its hometown of Richmond this week, followed by a US tour in July with The Wayward:

May 17 - Richmond, VA @ Wonderland
July 17 - Richmond, VA @ Wonderland w/ The Wayward
July 18 - Raleigh, NC @ Slim’s w/ The Wayward
July 19 - Athens GA @ Caledonia Lounge w/ The Wayward
July 20 - Atlanta, GA @ The Bakery w/ The Wayward
July 22 - St Louis, MO @ FOAM w/ The Wayward
July 24 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Howlers w/ The Wayward, Microwaves
July 25 - Cambridge, MA @ Hong Kong w/ The Wayward
July 27 - Philadelphia, PA @ Mothership w/ The Wayward, Stinking Lizaveta

Founded by Thomas in 2004, and with drummer Dave Witte (Municipal Waste, Human Remains) on board in the early days, Hex Machine made waves through the underground for a good eight years. Across two EPs and two full-lengths, the band crafted and refined its own unique strain of heavy noise-rock, and toured hard with the likes of Clutch and Melt-Banana. The sound had roots in the realms of The Jesus Lizard, The Melvins, and the Dischord Records scene, but from there it reached toward something new.

The last the world heard of Hex Machine was 2012's Fixator album. Fixator wowed, laying down a superior brand of noise-rock that flirted with big choruses, metallic drumming, and a range of guitar sounds that would foreshadow things to come. 

Following Fixator's release, Thomas and newest Hex drummer Douglas Andrae joined Today Is The Day, proceeding to play hundreds of shows across the world as the rhythm section behind mercurial cult hero Steve Austin.

With new album Cave Painting in hand, Hex Machine returns now, a new beast. Thanks in part to the intensity of the Today Is The Day stint, Hex Machine emerges reborn and sailing forward, entirely free of conventions. Cave Painting sees a new layer of moody, early-'80s drama creep in to Hex Machine's sound. On top of sludgy, lurching rhythms that nod to Richmond elders like Sliang Laos and Breadwinner, Thomas' guitar radiates post-punk tones of the XTC, The Police, and Killing Joke variety – "Evil Andy Summers" was a description once assigned to Duane Denison's style and it applies nicely to Thomas' as well. Track 3, a cover of The Psychedelic Furs' "President Gas," fits in seamlessly. 

The progression shown on Cave Painting is inspiring. Seven years have passed and Hex Machine has evolved into what it is – a new and unclassifiable thing, expelling its demons in its own way, saturating the noisy and metallic with melody and ambience.

Photo by Randy J. Byrd