Ahhh, it's been awhile since I've heard anything from Finland's Horna, but here they deliver eight often lengthy tracks of the kind of primal black metal onslaught you'd expect from their camp, which is to say that it's precisely the kind of black metal that I enjoy! Expect a raw recording with fairly thin guitars, distant percussion, subtle bass pulses, and snarling screams all fighting for space - but the general recording quality harnesses just the right aesthetic. It's not so abrasive that it's hard to listen to, and for the most part everything is fairly balanced in its intentional grittiness. In general the songwriting is tactfully repetitious and offers ample tempo changes, and that's one of the most important factors here: When black metal bands go for the throat with nothing but speed, speed, speed, they lose a lot of force... Horna, on the other hand, knows when to ease back and let the cold, grim atmospheres and emotions flow. Bookending the disc are "Vihan Tie" and "Kuilunhenki", among the faster tracks that bring in the most blaring tremolo picking and such, but not without their breaks of churning midpaced bashings. "Musta Temppeli" alternates between slower and more deliberate pacing that uses lots of dissonant chords and ringing notes more akin to the Norwegian style, before picking up speed and unleashing some caustic tremolo picking blasts; but "Vala Pedolle" totally kicks ass, changing things up a bit with an unexpected twist to both the picking patterns and the chord phrasings that lends an atypical feel to some of the riffing that creates a truly memorable backbone for the composition. A few more of these little atypical quirks pop up throughout the disc, namely in quick spurts of stuttered chord textures in the otherwise pounding, persistent "Saastainen Kaste". The surging melodic undercurrents that start off "Kuoleva Lupaus" continue in various forms throughout its 7+ minutes, making it by far the most melodic track herein, and certainly a contender for boldest standout of the disc; followed by the excellent instrumental "Zythifer": A close second in terms of overall melody due in part to its completely bleak and depressing tone, which is absolutely impeccable! Were the band able to achieve this level of feeling in every track I'd go absolutely apeshit! Now, admittedly the songs that hit seven to eight minutes don't usually need to be that long, there's arguably some room for trimming a little fat or taking the uses of repetition to further over the top hypnotic levels, but oddly enough it's still the lengthier tunes that carry most of the weight here. The layout's all done in black and white and is fairly standard for the genre: Silly illustrations, silly band photos, and your usual typefaces. Believe it or not, all of the lyrics are included, but since they're in Finnish I can't even wager a guess as to what the content might actually explore outside of the assumed topics of the black metal realm. Great work overall, though. Any fan of true black metal that enjoys the genre's more stripped down and back to basics style would be remiss not to give this a shot. There are some brilliant passages within these compositions, and I can definitely stand behind this record.
[Woodcut]
Running time - 48:53, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Musta Temppeli, Vala Pedolle, Kuoleva Lupaus, Zythifer]
Woodcut Records - http://www.woodcutrecords.com
