Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us

Hot Docs Review: Hex (Maja Holand, 2026)

Posted on
4 May 2026
by
Paul

At its best, black metal is raw, visceral, and over the top in all the right ways. It’s also a genre that’s overwhelmingly male dominated and has often been associated with dodgy, far-right politics. So a trio of Norwegian women who identify as witches and bill themselves as feminist black metal could be seen as a much needed breath of fresh air, a band bringing something new to the table. They can also face plenty of opposition

That band is Witch Club Satan, and that opposition is symbolized in the film through a framing device in which the members appear in a faux courtroom as various witnesses are called to testify in a modern-day mock witch trial. It’s an interesting stylistic choice on director Maja Holand’s part, and an effective one. As the witnesses – all real people speaking on the band and its cultural impact – offer their testimony (most of it favourable), we gain a clearer perspective on Witch Club Satan’s place in the scene. And when one of those “witnesses” is no less than Jørn Stubberud (aka Necrobutcher from Mayhem), describing them as a bridge between punk and metal and possibly the next evolution of black metal, it helps to give them some greater legitimacy and to counteract the naysayers.

Those naysayers, though, are inevitable whenever anyone comes up to challenge the status quo and even more so when those doing the challenging are women. While Witch Club Satan faces its fair share of opposition and grapples with moments of self-doubt throughout their “three year plan,” they don’t let that deter them. As we follow their story, Witch Club Satan moves from being absolute novices learning their instruments from scratch to playing major European festivals in fairly quick succession. Ultimately, their journey brings them closer together as friends, and that bond is at the core of Hex, with the trio forging a strong personal connection as they continue to challenge notions of what a black metal band can be.

PrevPreviousHot Docs Review: The Ballad of Judas Priest (Sam Dunn, Tom Morello, 2026)

SEARCH

FOLLOW US

Facebook Twitter Flickr Foursquare Rss Inbox

THE PAST

Archives

TAGS

Tags
austra (10) British Music Embassy (14) Canadian Music Fest (11) canadian music week (20) cmf (10) cmw (42) concert (9) el mocambo (9) fringe (26) Great Lake Swimmers (10) horseshoe tavern (23) hot docs (108) jazz (12) Joel Plaskett (10) jukebox the ghost (15) lee's palace (27) marina and the diamonds (10) Massive Attack (10) mod club (12) NXNE (94) of monsters and men (13) Phoenix (15) play reviews (11) Pulp (11) Roskilde Festival (17) rural alberta advantage (10) sharon van etten (10) suede (13) summerworks (34) SXSW (506) SXSW 2022 (11) SXSW 2024 (11) SXSW Online (18) the antlers (11) the cure (10) the national (10) the xx (11) Tokyo Police Club (9) Toronto (25) toronto fringe (14) Toronto Jazz Festival (55) turf (13) tweeview (10) Video (9) zeus (10)
The Panic Manual

We are a collective of individuals bringing you the latest in concert reviews, indie, britpop, Canadian, twee and all sorts of other music, movies, tv and everything else you like. Follow the manual to live a pleasant and fulfilling life.

All rights reserved