HAGEL have released their five-track mini-album “The Veil of Shadows” today, 6 November 2026, through Personal Records. The approximately 21-minute record is available on CD and digitally, while the complete release is streaming through the 666MrDoom YouTube channel. The Mexican band’s current line-up features Iveth Herrera on vocals, Carlos Velázquez and Iván Saldaña on guitars, Elizabeth Castillo on bass and Juan Reyes on drums.
Five songs, 21 minutes
“The Veil of Shadows” opens with “The Withering Tongues”, followed by “Flesh of the Gods”, “Effluvium” and “Obsidian Mirrors (The Veil of Shadows)”. The closing track, “Echoes from Beyond the Veil (Chacone in D Minor)”, brings the digital version to roughly 21 minutes. Personal Records presents the mini-album as a more introspective continuation of HAGEL’s black-doom style, built around dreamlike visions, ritual landscapes, ancient mysticism and obsidian mirrors.
The band’s stated influences include early MOONSPELL, alongside ROTTING CHRIST, OPHTHALAMIA, MORTUARY DRAPE, KATATONIA, EMPYRIUM, SAMAEL and TIAMAT. The release can be ordered on CD from Personal Records or downloaded through the label’s Bandcamp page.
Iveth Herrera changes the vocals
Iveth Herrera joined HAGEL as lead vocalist in 2024, allowing Iván Saldaña to concentrate exclusively on guitar. Her arrival established the line-up heard on “The Veil of Shadows”, alongside returning members Carlos Velázquez, Elizabeth Castillo and Juan Reyes.
Elizabeth Castillo on bass
Elizabeth Castillo plays bass in HAGEL. She also plays with the band Spit On Your Grave. Her current role places her in the rhythm section of the line-up that recorded the new mini-album.
From Monterrey to Personal Records
HAGEL formed in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1995 with Carlos Velázquez on guitar, Luis Galindo on keyboards and vocals, Fernando Galindo on bass and David Benavides on drums. The original band developed dark melodies, dense atmospheres and a melodic 1990s black metal approach before dissolving in 2000 after Galindo left. Songs written during that period remained unreleased for years.
Velázquez reactivated HAGEL in 2014 with Juan Reyes, Elizabeth Castillo and Iván Saldaña, who initially played guitar and sang. Galindo returned in 2018, and the band recorded its debut album the following year. “Veneration of the Black Light” arrived through Personal Records in 2021, using much of the material written between 1995 and 1997.
Galindo left the band again in 2023. Herrera joined the following year, and Saldaña then focused on guitar. The resulting line-up completed “The Veil of Shadows”, HAGEL’s second recorded release and first mini-album.
