Horna
Kohti Yhdeksän Nousua
[Solsticium]
6 tracks, 32:28
I've read quite a lot of positive reviews of Horna demo's and CD's, so expectations were high when I finally laid my hand upon one. The Finnish band offers us a short full-length here and to be honest, it's a pointless album. It's not easy to say this, and perhaps not entirely fair to the band, because this appears to be an honest band playing the music the members truly like, the song writing is solid and full of good riffs, and it's competently played without falling into the trap of over polishing the sound (although there is too much bass in the mix).
Musically, "Kohti Yhdeksän Nousua" is a cross between "Pentagram"-era Gorgoroth and Dødheimsgard's "Kronet Til Konge" without venturing much further. Unfortunately, this is the main problem: everything just sounds so incredibly familiar. As a result, Horna just comes across as yet another faceless generic 'Norwegian Black Metal (tm)' band. By the time you reach the third track, you already feel like you've owned this album for ages. The spirit of Black Metal is there, but the spark of genius isn't.
All those legendary Metal bands throughout history earned reputation by being original, refreshing or more extreme than their peers; they all had a style of their own. Horna hasn't, and hopefully they'll realize that because these guys can write great riffs and play them aggressively.
© 2000 sybren
I've read quite a lot of positive reviews of Horna demo's and CD's, so expectations were high when I finally laid my hand upon one. The Finnish band offers us a short full-length here and to be honest, it's a pointless album. It's not easy to say this, and perhaps not entirely fair to the band, because this appears to be an honest band playing the music the members truly like, the song writing is solid and full of good riffs, and it's competently played without falling into the trap of over polishing the sound (although there is too much bass in the mix).
Musically, "Kohti Yhdeksän Nousua" is a cross between "Pentagram"-era Gorgoroth and Dødheimsgard's "Kronet Til Konge" without venturing much further. Unfortunately, this is the main problem: everything just sounds so incredibly familiar. As a result, Horna just comes across as yet another faceless generic 'Norwegian Black Metal (tm)' band. By the time you reach the third track, you already feel like you've owned this album for ages. The spirit of Black Metal is there, but the spark of genius isn't.
All those legendary Metal bands throughout history earned reputation by being original, refreshing or more extreme than their peers; they all had a style of their own. Horna hasn't, and hopefully they'll realize that because these guys can write great riffs and play them aggressively.
© 2000 sybren