JEX THOTH

JEX THOTH
JEX THOTH (2008)
224-320 KBPS

A few months ago I was floored by a three-song release by an American band called Totem. Totem sounded like the perfect marriage of Grace Slick and a really doom-ified and folk-ified Black Sabbath. And yes, they did not reply to my humble request for an interview. (Actually, they just did) I thought their music was incredible. Soon after, I found out that Totem were no more, and that a new band comprised of Totem members (now a five piece) was happening. I was elated because that at least meant that those tunes would not perish. They would not fall into a bottomless oblivion. I needed more of their esoteric sound. I needed more of their depth. I needed more of their heaviness, and more importantly I needed more of those vocals. Is the wicked goddess that goes by the name of Jex Toth the incarnation of everything that has been embellished with enchantment? Does her persona signify the encounter of heaviness and a truly sense of the arcane?
Judging by this masterful thirteen song classic, I’d say absolutely yes. Her gorgeous vocals are the perfect match to the solemnity of the music. Jex Toth has a folksy flair you see, one that makes smart use of keyboards and flutes in order to convey a soulful vibe. This is doom, but Jex Toth’s art is not morose, nor sad, nor depressing. Instead, it’s introspective and deep, and slow, and timeless. Two worlds colliding have never offered a more magnificent spectacle. And let’s face it that’s what Totem was and that’s what Jex Thoth is. A meeting moment of the heavy, the slow, the downtuned, the groovy, the psychedelic and the sexy, the provocative, the dominating by sheer smarts, the titillating, the provocative and more. I just ran out of adjectives.
Jex Thoth sounds like molten lava. It sounds like witchery needs to shorten that long pimply nose, it sounds like the idea needs to trade that broom for a rishka. It sounds like we better gather around the fire and get the joints burning.

1. Nothing Left To Die
2. The Banishment
3. Obsidian Night
4. Separated at Birth
5. Son of Yule
6. Warrior Woman
7. Equinox Suite: The Poison Pit
8. Equinox Suite: Thawing Magus
9. Equinox Suite: Invocation Pt. 1
10. Equinox Suite: The Damned and Divine
11. When the Raven Calls
12. Stone Evil