For their second album, Portland, Oregon trio Hoaxed return with a new lineup and a new energy. On Death Knocks, vocalist/guitarist Kat Keo and drummer Kim Coffel are joined by new bassist and backing vocalist April Dimmick (also of local heroes Soul Grinder), who brings her metal pedigree and raspy roar to Hoaxed’s dreamy death-rock sensibility. Stormy opener “Where the Seas Fall Silent” weaves and bewitches before giving way to the sturdy hard-rock rumble of “Kill Switch” with its cautionary refrain, “Here they come again/Full speed, closing in.” The dramatic strings and horror-movie keyboard stabs of “Dead Ringer” build to a high-flying chorus, while the undulating guitars of closer “Killing Stone” provide the score to a mystical murder spree.