Hex Enduction Hour
Hex Enduction Hour makes rhythm the centre of the Fall’s unruly sound. Two drummers give the music unusual weight, while guitars cut across patterns that keep moving beneath them. Mark E. Smith speaks, sings and interrupts in a voice that rarely offers comfort. The performances have enough direction to make all that friction compelling rather than merely difficult.
The Classical opens with rolling drums and a prominent bass line. Smith’s delivery brings its own sudden changes of pressure, while the band keeps a firm hold on the movement. Jawbone and the Air-Rifle follows with a more direct, driving attack. The group can sound rough without losing the sense that every part is contributing to the same momentum.
Hip Priest lowers the pace and becomes more threatening. Its longer development makes room for tension that would disappear in a faster song. Winter (Hostel-Maxi) and Winter 2 use a different kind of patience. A repeating bass figure leaves space for the other instruments to move around it, giving Smith a steady setting for his strange observations.
And This Day takes that stubborn approach further at the end. Drums keep pressing forward beneath organ, guitar noise and a difficult-to-separate vocal. The track lasts more than ten minutes, and its refusal to offer a quick release is both impressive and demanding. It turns the band’s rough edges into the substance of the music.
An hour of this can be tiring. Some passages feel less fully shaped than the strongest songs, and the words often resist a clear interpretation. Yet the album’s character is never in doubt. Hex Enduction Hour gets its force from repetition, small changes and the constant disagreement between voice and instruments. It asks for sustained attention, but gives that attention something unusual and substantial to work with.
