Forming in Nancy, France back in 2011, La Horde are aiming to follow up on their decisive debut album “En passant par le Monde” which was released in 2012 to very mixed reviews, some praising the band as a breath of fresh air and exciting whilst others slating them and saying this was not the way to play thrashcore/crossover. Undeterred and promising to stick to their style, the four piece return this year with “Dystopie”. Let’s see how this one goes.
From the off there were some slight problems on my side – the presser was in French, a language which I don’t have a clue about in terms of reading and speaking, so with some help from google translate, I managed to get a rough idea of what to expect… Then when I hit play, it was all in French. Ok, if a non-British band wishes to sing in their mother tongue then it’s fine, it just makes some things a little problematic when it comes to trying to follow the songs at times. One thing though which thankfully is universal is the anger and venom the vocals are delivered with, fitting well with the thrashcore/crossover approach the band has adopted.
Musically, it’s pretty much what you would expect. Thrash like riffing and pace with hardcore friendly breakdowns and some of that high energy crossover sections with plenty of gang vocals to satisfy those looking to add their voice in the big parts. When it is more thrash like, the pace is blistering and rhythmically tight, rarely skipping a beat and keeping the energetic and aggressive sound going and in the more hardcore sections, it slows down enough to give a real contrast, favouring the heavier sound and really letting the listener know when it is ‘time to throw down’ if that is their thing.
As the album progresses, the crossover and hardcore feel becomes more prominent and what starts out as predominantly thrash with the opening volley of tracks gets faster, looser and angrier, closing the album with a similar approach to Municipal Waste and DRI, but not quite as good as that, but it does show how malleable La Horde can be with their sound and approach.
Overall, it’s not superb, but it isn’t poor either. It’s a mix of styles with some good points and some bad points but it isn’t anything to be majorly excited about. Give it a listen, but you can get by without it.
(5/10 Fraggle)
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