ALBUM REVIEW: The Horn – Volume 21

Here I review the new album from Australian Industrial Black Metal band “The Horn” with their newest full length “Volume 21”.

1. Under The Feet Of This God opens the album with some excellent orchestration creating a dark atmosphere with a more folky touch than I expected.
2. Spell 30a continues in the vein of very Middle Eastern sounding rhythm with a really bleak and raw style of Black Metal. The use of Eastern instruments sounds really haunting and beautiful, the riffs are aggressive and the vocals very dark. The feeling of the song is very primitive and folk influenced, with whispered vocals adding depth to it. The production lacks punch slightly, but this is something I am all too used to in Black Metal and it certainly can create a cool rawness. The ending of the song contrasts the start with a super epic atmosphere and more uplifting feel. Great material.
3. Rubric For Spell 30a and b has an ethereal atmosphere which is stunning to listen to. The sound seems like something Rotting Christ would use and really feels gorgeous, yet very disturbing too. The storytelling style works amazingly in addition to the background.
4. Spell 38b brings the raw Black Metal attack with more Death Metal sounding riffs, but the unmistakably dark vocals once again taking foreground. The sludgy pace of the song sounds brutal as hell, but is topped off with really pretty instruments once again (I believe) of middle eastern origin. The attack of the drums (which I believe are programmed) is unrelenting and full of aggression.
5. Spell 37 offers a more depressive chord progression and fast tempo, the bleak atmosphere created is really well done. The songs more old school Black Metal vibe is awesome and a really great listen.
6. Spell 34 features well placed sampling to begin, and yet more folk style with it. The song is a really interesting piece of Egyptian music with an epic and grandiose feeling. The vocals sound really possessed too!
7. Spell 35 follows on very nicely, but with more of a punch to it. The increasing malice of the album is growing very nicely. The sound of the bass and guitars is really fuzzy and sounds perfect for the style.
8. Spell 40 hits us with drum beats that sound awesome and more heavy distortion driven Black Metal. The speed of the drums is really fast, the layered instruments creating a wall of noise. Finally the vocals are used in the fashion of an instrument adding a final grotesquely grim layer to the raw mix. The sound ends with a really nice upbeat folky feeling to it.
9. Spell 68 is the closing number, but it is over 30 minutes long. The instruments and spoken word sound fantastic. The atmosphere created is done excellently, a really impressive job on this one. The song has an underlying menace with the evil vocals used over the ambient instruments. While being a bit longer than needed, it does sound really cool for sure.

This album is raw, dark and very unique. The use of middle eastern instruments in Black Metal is really cool and the style is not like anything I am used to. The production is slightly lacking in quality but that is my only real criticism in addition to the vocals being a bit louder than needed (but of course this is possibly intentional and down to interpretation). Overall the albums uniqueness is the really interesting factor, good work. -6.5/10