The album begins with a brief piano intro “Nocturne” and paves the way for the tremolos and blast beats to swirl in the following song “Sciomancy And Sortilege”. The downright melodies and the keyboards conjure a dark feeling and are composed finely, engulfing a warm and serene feeling. Pestilent Hex lets you wander through the forest and the atmosphere manages to create a sense of haunting music, to diversify the craft the duo has captured the traditional style of 90s black metal.

The melodies and the vocals in the song “Through Mirrors Beyond” are one of the highlights of the album delivering malevolent screeches and symphonic keyboards, the tremolo sections are nicely joined with double bass and tremolo riff-driven aggression emphasizes the composition.

While we have seen some great outfits hailing from Finland in the last couple of years from bands like Vargrav, Moonlight Sorcery, Warmoon Lord, and Faustian Pact, Pestilent Hex weaves a grim symphony in its second studio album by imposing an aggressive and melodic brilliance.

The flow of the symphonies keeps the music interesting and thrilling, however, the duo conveys something grim and has passionately crafted a mixture of high-quality black metal. The scathing black metal riffs and melodies are combined to create very melodious and catchy hooks when the haunting keyboards soar over the backdrop of guitar riffs and heavy drums during halfway the song “Of Hexcraft And Laws Three-Fold”.

Even some haunting acoustic guitar sections flow into the cold, malevolent atmosphere; the drumming maintains the speed in most songs with aggression, and the keyboards brood slowly and darkly. Pestilent Hex‘s songwriting centers on the old and new black metal, the guitar riffs are wonderfully layered with the blasting drums, and the guitar work pulls inspiration from Finnish black metal bands like Thy Serpent and Alghazanth as there are some powerful drum fills and blast beats.

The opening of “A Spectral Voyage” features cold piano and malign, powerful growls; the mixing dark guitar melody and the rhythm tempo flowing through the shrieking. The bass guitar is notable in the mid-tempo accompanied by the piano melody in the background and the music evokes the sinister forces of the night.

Scathing riffs erupt leading to aural chaos in the song “Threnody of the Moon Ascendant” where the duo manages to focus on power chords, shrieks, and tremolo sections amid the blasting drums showing great ways to mix varied tempos. The keyboards give a dark impulse which perfectly complements the drums.

At times the guitar barrages become the driving force in these songs and the layered effect of the screeching and howling vocals is bewitching. The duo offers plenty of great atmospheric passages on “Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow” which makes the songwriting richer and fully conveyed in the classic melodic and symphonic vibe.

The final song “Sanguine Gnosis” swells to a spellbinding apex, this ten-minute track employs the synth and acoustic guitar dramatically and perfectly combines slow and up-tempo drums when the pace erupts to blast beats, and the music ascends to an orchestral appeal that is so grandiose and gothic.

It feels like the duo has bred something unique in the second album by extracting the dark elements of Desolate Shrine, Convocation, and the brutality of Corpsessed, resulting in a searing melodic black metal composition. These elements swirl and swell dynamically throughout the time length of the album and leave you in a sinister, dark mood.

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