Horna should need no introduction to any fan of extreme music, having been stalwarts of the Finnish, if not global, black metal scene for the last 30 years. During that time, they have unleashed ten studio albums and countless splits, EPs, demos and live albums. They have also had their controversies and a fair few line-up changes, with guitarist Shatraug the only remaining member from the original line up. Thankfully, the band have retained the same line-up for ‘Hymnejä Yölle’ as for the last album ‘Kuoleman Kirjo’ and this shows in terms of the maturity and quality of this album.
The first thing that struck me when I listened to ‘Hymnejä Yölle’ (apart from the last track which I’lll get to in a minute) was the production. In my head, Horna releases are usually raw, abrasive black metal, whereas the new album has a stellar production with crystal clear, polished sound. Don’t get me wrong, it is still aggressive and confrontational black metal, but it has a more contemporary feel to it and in many ways is much easier to listen to than previous albums.
The first five tracks on the album are Hymni chapters, and I-V sit perfectly together with one track flowing seamlessly into the next. Spellgoth’s abrasive vocals dominate the sound, but there is also a majestic undercurrent of melodious guitar work that sometimes comes to the fore. Don’t let this talk of melody confuse things through, this is still gnarly black metal but rather than rampaging at 100mph all of the time, there is finesse and refinement, and it works exceptionally well. At times there is a sinister, almost mystical, atmosphere to the sound adding to the effect. Having said all of that, this is unmistakably Horna and no nonsense black metal……until we get to track six, ‘Kuoleva Lupaus’ which features former bassist (and Kryptamok mainman) Hex Inferi. The track is a nine minute, stripped back acoustic number, completely different from anything I recall Horna ever doing before, and I would suggest that it is much closer to neofolk than the more familiar black metal. I’m not sure what the motivation for including such a big step away from the usual style was, but once I got my head round it, it worked really well. It was majestic and epic, moody and thought provoking, almost serving as an extended outro to the album, reinforcing the brutality of what had come before.
This is a step away from previous releases in terms of its more polished production and epic melodies, not to mention the neofolk curveball, but it all works really well. This is one of Horna’s strongest releases to date, and I highly recommend it to you.
(8.5/10 Andy Pountney)
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