Prolific label of renowned quality. Prolific band of renowned quality. Seems a match made in heaven (or hell if you prefer). Dark Descent have become one of THE go-to outlets for quality black and death metal, helped in no small part by the output of bands like Horrendous. Their 2012 debut ‘The Chills’ caused minor tremors in the underground, presenting a convincing (if relatively typical) blast of Swedish-tinged death metal. Follow-up ‘Ecdysis’ in 2014 added a touch more experimentation to this bedrock, garnering the band increased interest as their sound began to explore more unique avenues.
Clearly choosing to capitalise on this upwards curve, Horrendous have followed hot on the heels of their sophomore opus with their latest full-length, ‘Anareta’ – and what a record it is. Death metal is in rude health at the moment with practitioners of all things murky, downtuned and growling garnering adulation across the underground. On this third album however, Horrendous take a different path – cleaner, more intricate and melodic, a whiff of precision and technicality pervading across the whole thing (as opposed to the stench of the open grave). And you know what? It really, really works.
This is a fantastically well-composed, well-executed set of death metal tracks. Straddling the fine line between mid-period Death and early Swedish death metal is an oft-attempted pathway but it’s one fraught with danger – there are rehearsal rooms the length and breadth of the land rocking to the sound of mediocre re-writes of the tracks off of ‘Human’ after all.
Luckily, Horrendous have the songcraft and the chops to not only walk this road successfully but with a genuine swagger. ‘The Nihilist’ is perhaps a misleading start, a decent enough number with more than a whiff of early 90s Swedish Death metal that doesn’t quite set out their stall for the greatness to come. The epic ‘Ozymandias’ knocks things up a gear with some compelling riffing and excellent lead work whilst Damian Herrring and Matt Knox’s rippingly snarled vocals are a dead ringer for Chuck Schuldiner at his most venomous.
There’s the occasional whiff of the more melodic side of the Swedish scene on ‘Sideria’ but it never becomes trite, always walking on the right side of obvious. Technicality fuses seamlessly with inspiration on taut, frantic assaults like ‘Sum of All Failures’ and ‘Polaris’. Horrendous’s blend of influences seamlessly synthesises into a coherent blast of captivating, intricate metal – we even get a touch of Nothingface-era Voivod on the progressive, spidery guitar lines of ‘Stillborn Gods’.
Adding into the mix myriad inspired solos that blend taste and technical execution (not unlike classic Coroner) and we have a real winner here. It’s refreshing in 2015 to hear a death metal album that’s unafraid to take a cleaner, more pristine approach and Horrendous must be applauded for not only doing this well, but doing it bloody well. A year highlight for sure. (9/10 Frank Allain)
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