5 Mar 2022

Terrascope reviews GNOD's Hexen Valley


They say:

Recently decamped to Hebden Bridge (the Hexen Valley of the title and, for the uninitiated, a more rugged Glastonbury of the North) and with a line-up still coalesced around Founding Fathers Paddy Shine and Chris Haslam, Gnod reprise the communal approach with which they were first associated at Salford’s Islington Mill. It’s a formula that succeeded well enough then, and it sure bears fruit now.

Gnod’s last album, La Morte du Sense, doubled down on the aural bombardment that has served them so well in recent years and which as good as nailed it on that occasion, too. Now stripped back to a four-piece featuring two guitars, bass and drums, one might reasonably expect to again be on the receiving end of a bare-knuckle pasting. And to an extent we are, except that Hexen Valley introduces us to a few more jabs and feints, even a hint of fancy footwork to keep you guessing. Which of course makes it all the more delicious when you do get floored. Boy how we love a sucker punch - fall for it every time....  

Read the rest here: Terrascope

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