Metal Archives

This album, in effect, is a journey to the abyss and back again. The album starts off with 'Orkkivuorilta' which contains a chilling and, to say the least, exciting 20-second intro of basically just wind. Then you're thrown into the belly of the beast; perfectly shrieked vocals and expert execution of simple riffs create the optimum atmosphere that makes you want to bang your head. 'Orkkivuorilta' changed speed from slower sections to slightly faster than to oblivion and in my opinion if you can do this without making the song extremely boring then it's a success. I've only seen a few bands pull this off; Horna, Tsjuder and Nargaroth; and when you compare it to the likes of Satyricon who are said masters of the genre but failed to keep 'Dominions of Satyricon' alive passed the minute mark, it just proves that Horna are clearly underrated. No other band has had so many consistent releases back to back than Horna and they are the true masters of black metal!

'Imperial Devastation' is very 'Desert Northern Hell' with Horna's edge which makes it epic within the first half-minute. A good strong follow-up to the best bm song of all time and not much else could have followed it in such grace. Through this song alone you can see that the album isn't just a bunch of beats and riffs thrown together with a few shrieks here and there to attempt at fame (like Mayhem's Deathcrush - absolute piss), but the band have clearly spent many a diadem perfecting every second of this album, so that each track flows perfectly from one to the next, which it does.

'Sormus Ja Silmä' is an outright epic and shows 1349 how to create a 13 minute track without it losing interest in the first couple of minutes. The opening riff is pure class and for once, you can hear a bass in a black metal song! PRAISE HORNA FOR THE WONDERFUL BASS! At around 5:30 the track changes into faster beats and Watain-like vocals and when 7:47 hits you know the track is worth 5 stars on your iTunes. Then comes the outro of the song and I’m suddenly thinking of clear influences from Satyricon's 'I En Svart Kiste' and Nargaroth's Introduction on 'Herbstleyd'. The classic ending of some weird man talking in a weird voice with weird poofy music is here, but yet again like 'I En Svart Kiste'. I like it.

Not a perfect release but for a first full-length? Fucking immense. The song 'Örkkivuorilta' alone made Horna's name stand out in my book and this album is a must have for anyone who is into raw black metal perfection! Download it/buy it... I don't care as long as you get it!

Recommended Tracks: 'Örkkivuorilta', 'Imperial Devastation' and 'Sormus Ja Silmä'.

My only complaint about this album is the small amount of tracks and the tiny length, otherwise it's pretty great. I was going to rate this 85/100 but I’m going to add more just for the sheer perfection of the first two tracks.