Valkyrian Music

Horna
Hengen Tulet
Released 22nd September 2015
Black Metal
Released via W.T.C.Productions

‘Hengen Tulet’ (Finnish for “Spirit Fires”), is the new album from the Finnish black metal band Horna. It is the follow up to ‘Askel lähempänä Saatanaa’ which was released in 2013. It’s a while since I’ve listened to Horna, the last time was when I saw them live at Tuska festival in 2012…

Those who are familiar with Horna’s history will know that the band has gone through numerous line-up changes over the years and Spellgoth is their third singer having replaced Corvus in 2009. Apart from that not much has changed; for example, most of their lyrics are in their native Finnish and they still play raw black metal. The first track Amadriada blasts its way through the speakers offering an angry barrage of guitar riffs and relentless pummeling drums along with singer Spellgoth’s guttural shouts which are well suited to the music.

The next track that caught my attention is Puhdas due to the atmospheric “church organ” -style keyboard intro which gives way to more aggressive drumming, raw guitars complete with Spellgoth’s ghastly vocals creeping through the background. By contrast to this, we have Sodan Roihu, which sounds almost catchy at times as a result of the “rocking” guitar riffs which make you want to start headbanging along to the tune. Then it’s back to good old raw and eerie black metal for the remainder of the album.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed this album. It’s just good old, raw black metal. It shows that Horna have stayed true to their roots. They aren’t really doing anything new here so if you’re a fan of their music then you will know what to expect. For those who are new to the band, this album serves as a good introduction.

4/5
Iza Raittila

This entry was posted on 31st July 2015 at 10:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Black Metal, Horna. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.