Horned Almighty are another band plucked from relative underground obscurity to find themselves on Candlelight’s ever burgeoning and formidable roster. These Danes caught my attention with their second album 2006 release ‘The Devil’s Music,’ which at the time was something I thought of as not so much belonging to the devil but a bunch of brewed up squat punks on a cider fuelled wrecking spree. It was debatable even referring to their craft as black metal like they wanted it described at the time, as it was basically punk as fuck. Two albums later I still have that feeling from a lot of this but it is perhaps looking more towards the realms of extreme metal and less to the ‘crust’ demeanour previously displayed. The line-up for this lot is pretty stable apart from a bassist change in 2005 so it feels as though the band have simply matured sound wise. The way they were playing before was pretty damn basic in a very enjoyable way but there is a bit more depth to this.
Church bells and screams herald in the groove-laden title track (the clever play on words very much noted). Singer S. (Smerte) has served time in various bands including Exmortem and his craggy vocals spill over from the death metal background of that band but suit the punch happy incendiary tone of this jackboot pounding hammer-blow of a number. Melody has a bit of a D-beat vibe going through it and this is easily a crossover that could appeal to the more filthy punkers who want to hail Satan and cider at the same time. A fetid belched out ‘roighhhht’ launches into the pogo bouncy ‘Fountain Of A Thousand Plagues,’ you can head bang and get into a touch of old school Sodom/ Motörhead worship to this and play along to the whiplashing solos from the guitar department. There is a tumultuous apocalyptic Zyklonesque sounding weave to ‘Age Of Scorn’ before it settles into another simpler lead-lined groove, bolting along at a fair old pace as it bowls you over.
The nine songs here are all whacked out fast and furiously but we do get one slow one in the form of the gnarly ‘Blasphemous Burden’ which, foot off the peddle adds another dimension to the band. They leave the best track to me till the end ‘Absolved In The Sight Of God’ is another slower one and the magnificent shimmering guitar melody absolutely nails it! It looks like a so called European tour (I say so called as missing UK) is scheduled for early 2011 with Glorior Belli, The One and Absentia Lunae which no doubt will be great if you get the chance to attend. In the meantime these devil punks are well worth checking out.
http://www.hornedalmighty.com
http://www.myspace.com/hornedalmighty
