SUTEKH HEXEN

American black noise/power ambient cult Sutekh Hexen emerged in the late 00’s from the burgeoning experimental underground of San Francisco through the visions of visual artist and guitarist Kevin Gan Yuen and multi instrumentalist Scott Miller. With influences as diverse as Merzbow, Sunn O))) and Leviathan, it did not take long for the project to soon assume its initial form as a wretched audial specter blending in equal measure noise and raw black metal to create a disembodied aural abomination entirely their won. This initial incarnation of the band released the band’s infamous and now unfindable first three demo tapes (2010's "Constellation", "Ritualistic" and "Altars”) as well as the "Order of Nine" single. Tape loop manipulator and soundscape artist Lee Carnfield joined the band for a short time soon after, expanding the band’s sonic horizon and giving rise to the band’s first three highly praised full-length albums: 2011’s “Luciform” and “Larvae”, and 2012’s “Behind the Throne”, all of which began to showcase the band’s evolution from its foundational raw black metal/noise assault into a ritualistic power ambient beast still rooted in black metal but more broadly influenced by dark ambient, power electronics, witchcraft, and experimental soundtrack and ritual music. As one of the first entities to fully develop and establish the so called black noise subgenera on American soil, the status of cult and visionaries became soon indissoluble with the band’s name, leading to a highly praised and prolific output both in the studio (with numerous of these releases and collaborations published by respected underground labels like Magic Bullet, Holy Terror, Aurora Borealis, Cold Spring, Handmade Birds, Black Horizons, etc.) as well as on the stage with their cacophonous and hallucinatory live sets being shared across the American West Coast throughout the years with the likes of Lycus, Necrite, Lluvia, Hell, Ash Borer, Volhan, Hissing, Terror Cell Unit, Thou, Arizmenda, Trepaneringsritualen, Atriarch, Monarch, Trees, and many more. Scott Miller exited the band in 2012 and the band’s lineup was extended with the entry at first of noise musician Andy Way (of Thoabath), and shortly after of noise legend Ryan Jecks (of Dispirit, Crash Worship, Deathroes) and of baritone guitarist Joshua Churchill (of Plumes). Around this time the band relocated from SF to the East Bay, right when a rising new extreme music label called Sentient Ruin Laboratories had begun making a name for itself in Oakland’s thriving underground, and this concatenation of events led to Sutekh Hexen becoming the label’s second ever singing with the release of 2012’s “Become” EP on cassette tape format. The four-piece lineup lasted several more years and toured extensively, peaking with the creation of “One Hundred Year Storm”, the band’s now infamous live collaborative performance with Trepaneringsritualen at the Stella Natura festival, which soon became one of the most famous and praised dark experimental underground live albums ever created. The band’s relationship with Sentient Ruin intensified and solidified during these years, leading to ulterior releases like the two iconic split 7”’s with BLSPHM and 夢遊病者. Toward the end of 2017 this incarnation of the band of Yuen, Way, Jencks and Churchill dissolved, leaving Sutekh Hexen as a one man operation of only Kevin Gan Yuen at the helm, aided throughout the following years and to present by an ever-changing congregation of studio and live collaborators and contributors (among them Damien Johnson of Great Falls/BLSPHM, Mackenzie Chami and Sam Torres of Terror Cell Unit, Ryan Jobes of Sunken Cathedral and Night Worship, and many more). Due to the vast number of collaborators and contributors involved, this era of the band has marked a more diverse and experimental output compared to its beginnings, and the establishment of a continuative relationship with Sentient Ruin, and later also with French dark ambient label Cyclic Law, both of which orchestrated Sutekh Hexen’s return to the full-length format after seven long years with 2019’s self-titled first ever double LP, and 2023’s collaborative double LP with field recording master Funerary Call titled “P:R:I:S:M” The band’s sprawling and newfound revitalization continued in late 2024 with their first ever European live rituals (accompanied by long time co-headliner Trepaneringsritualen), and a long-planned reissue of the band’s iconic first three demos, which saw the light for the first time ever in a mastered form and released on LP and CD formats for the first time as 2025’s "Constellation Ritualistic Altars : Demo(n)s" compilation.

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