The Howling Hex is best known for being half (Neil Michael Hagerty) of the legendary 80s and 90s “rock” band Royal Trux, and less so for releasing decent albums that pale in comparison to the masterful messes of Royal Trux.
Wilson Semiconductors is merely a shadow of the skeleton of Royal Trux. “Reception” is a farewell pop-rock song a la The Rolling Stones’s Between the Buttons in demo form. “Brunette Roulette” and “Play This When You Feel Low” are neat guitar tracks for fanatics of Neil Michael Hagerty’s guitar work. “A Game of Dice” is a 10 minute song in the vein of a British prog rock pop interlude; it is at least 7 minutes too long and most of that is still in the lazy improvised form of the previous songs; the first 4-5 minutes can be skipped altogether, unless there is something cute in the his throwaway tale. Hagerty begins to sound like Jack White from The White Stripes, which is an ultimate irony considering the trajectory of their careers.
The Howling Hex is not Royal Trux and should not be confused with it, but Wilson Semiconductors sounds like it was improvised one day by someone impersonating Hagerty and is a much lower effort than the previous releases. The only positive aspect is that there are still remnants of the mad hard rocker and Hagerty’s guitar style as hard as it may be to find.
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