You know, despite doing my best to be the non-materialist environmentally friendly old hippy that I was apparently born to be, it is sometimes just plain and simply nice to get stuff. Having something that you can actually hold in your hand makes it more special, so rather than the normal download link it was a treat to have Strange Horizon’s CD arrive on my door step, a treat made greater by the fact that it was a band I was utterly unfamiliar with, but after listening to ‘Beyond The Strange Horizon’, one I’d happily learn more about in the future. But hey, I’m getting ahead of myself.

‘Temple of Stone’ launches the album with a classic mid-paced doom number, thumping beats that slow to a dragging break down guaranteed to have flared trousers flapping along to the down-tuned reverb before pace builds up again for track’s denouement. Things get fuzzier for ‘Fake Templar’, a wall of dirty riffs staggering from the speakers sounding like they had been summoned forth through time from the guitar of a young Dave Chandler; hell, I half expected the voice of Scott Reager to howl out from Los Angeles, rather than those of Stig Kviljo from Bergen. This love of classic sounds bleeds through into follow up ‘The Final Vision’, a number that could have been written and recorded in any of the last fifty years, merging elements of late sixties heavy rock through to the most up to date lo-fi doom. ‘Divine Fear’ drips with respectful six-string Iommi worship, never straying into the territory of simple regurgitation or parody, whilst at the same time not being fearful to wear the obvious influence on their sleeve. The pace picks up with the infectious stamp of ‘They Never Knew’, delivering a bass line laden with hooks guaranteed to have feet stamping and long hair flailing to a song that is a celebration of the pioneers of the scene that Strange Horizon so obviously grew up listening to, complete with reverential references to Sabbath and Saint Vitus woven into the lyrics.

‘Chains of Society’ follows, a thumping helping of proto-metal goodness, before ‘Turning The Corner’ travels through the Arabian tinged wilderness first journeyed by a ‘Planet Caravan’ many decades ago. The album is then closed off with the epic ‘Death In Ice Valley’, a heavy metal retelling of the story of The Isdal Woman, an unsolved 1970 death in Bergen with elements of mystery and espionage worthy of a Scandi Noir series, let alone a nine minute slice of retro rock, the creeping menace and enigmatic delivery of the song matching the conundrum of the demise of the real life lady.

‘Beyond The Strange Horizon’ is a confident album by a band that has clearly immersed themselves in the lore of now over half a century of heavy rock, learning from their illustrious ancestors, whilst imbuing a fresh energy into the sound, and for that Strange Horizon deserve to be heard.

(8/10 Spenny)

https://www.facebook.com/strangehorizonbergen

https://strangehorizon.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-strange-horizon