Review Summary: Conquering the mountain's peak is not enough. They keep on climbing.
It took five years but Philly's prodigal metal troopers Horrendous finally went back to hibernate in their Subterranean Watchtower, the ultimate goal being the complete opposite of napping. Instead, the four-piece gathered to conceive, gestate and give birth to their fifth release since 2012's debut
The Chills. Now, considering the absurd quality of the band's discography up to date and how they have managed to keep improving their sound with every new record, it's no surprise that this
Ontological Mysterium is an absolute ripper, and believe me when I say that words fall short to describe how this album genuinely hits, but I'm gonna try.
First and foremost, Horrendous are not a death metal band anymore. To reduce their craft to a single denominator is almost insulting at this point considering the ridiculous range of influences that collide on this release. The band has perfected that subtle infusion of melody into their speedy and brutal style that made albums like
Anareta or
Idol so special in a way that feels completely natural and inherent to the songwriting, as opposed to other bands that just add for the sake of adding. There's as much Voivod as there is Iron Maiden, as much as Death as there is Rush, and the results of such daring concoction speak for itself. This is nothing new for Horrendous, but you can hear this especially in the extraordinary guitar duality of Matt Knox and Damian Herring. Not only they trade solos like two heavyweights exchanging punches like their lives depend on it, but they also find the right time to complement each other harmonizing with spine- chilling leads and heart-piercing melodies. Jamie Knox also shows once again how imaginative and tight his drumming is. Where another drummer would just throw a blast beat and let it roll, Jamie always finds some way to surprise the listener. On the other hand, and this is not new either, special mention goes once more to Alex Kulick's bass and his work on this record. It's not usual to have bass lines so incredibly engaging and hypnotizing on an album as aggressive as this one. His playing feels like vine twisting around your neck at times, loosing and tightening the grip depending on what Knox's drumming commands, embellishing and pummeling as the song requires.
But let's talk riffs. Holy mother of all hells, from which magic unfathomable sack of riffs are these guys pulling tricks from? How is it possible to be on your fifth record and still come up with a seven-minute festival of shredding and crushing like "Chrysopoeia (The Archaelogy of Dawn)"? Let alone being able to execute it on record like they do here.
Ontological Mysterium is indeed a mystery. Tracks like "Neon Leviathan" and "Cult of Sahhad'oah" pack as much rage and filth as you would expect from an Horrendous release, but the real surprises for me were two specific tracks on the first half: "Aurora Neoterica" is an atmospheric and progressive jazz fusion short interval with flourishing guitar melodies and a very simple but effective rhythm pattern that is enriched with choral voices in the background. It seamlessly links the ferocity of "Neon Leviathan" with the other stunner of the album: "Preterition Hymn", creating a really nice flow and allowing the aforementioned track to blast through at a slower pace, considering the band's standards. Damian's screams sound even more scorched than usual, and as the song slowly progresses into a brief and heartfelt build up that feels like Mt. Fuji is about to bust a nut, instead, it ends with Damian destroying his vocal chords screaming into the void while the song dies on a beautiful and acoustic outro. This was the very exact moment where I knew Horrendous had created something exceptional with this new album.
Ontological Mysterium closes up with a couple of tracks that will make old fans of the band drool, just in case there was any doubt that this was the same band that made Pitchfork break character in 2015. The title track is unrelenting, with Damian and Matt trading growls and shrieks like two demon spirits battling for your soul, while the fantastic closer "The Death Knell Ringeth" sends you off to purgatory until you come to realize that the only way of moving on is to listen to the whole damn thing from the beginning once again. It's also worth mentioning Damian Herring's production, as good as in any of the band's past material. Nothing like cooking your own meal if you have the chops for it, and Herring does it in spades. To round up the package, Brian Smith returns also to illustrate the existential themes and cosmic horror of
Ontological Mysterium because, you know, it's just the way it has to be.
Empowering and highly addictive, Horrendous have created once again a record that will undoubtedly populate this year's best of lists like the plague. It is inevitable, and I welcome the feeling, for these kind of albums only happen once in a while, and who knows what the next wait would look like.
