RED HOT TRACK OF THE WEEK: HORRENDOUS

Track

Ontological Mysterium

Artist

Horrendous

Horrendous backstory

One of contemporary US death metal’s most intriguing and inventive acts, Horrendous turned heads with their remarkable third album Anerata – and spun them 360 degrees with the complex, prog-influenced Idol, back in 2018.

The quartet, who formed in 2009, are now gearing up for the release of Ontological Mysterium, which drops this summer.

The album’s title track is the first taste of that record.

In the band’s own words…

“The album is our loveletter to the bombastic spirit of heavy metal music from the 80s and early 90s.

“Ontological Mysterium is an allegorical tale of creation, the formation of organic life, and the inadvertently and ironically destructive fate of unbound growth and uncontrollable reproduction.

“It represents the wild voracity of youth and inevitable transition into the gradual decay of aging in its various forms, fulfilling the unbroken circle of a biological existence.”

The verdict on Ontological Mysterium

The spirit of classic death metal – Morbid Angel, Death and Pestilence – looms large across this song. But unlike many bands in American death metal’s new wave, Horrendous don’t resort to simple ancestor worship.

Ontological Mysterium sounds fresh, thrilling and very 2023 as guitarists Damian Herring and Matt Knox weave their technical magic across addictive grooves and shuddering percussive detonations.

However, for all the track’s complexity and jaw dropping pace shifts, there’s a welcome directness to Ontological Mysterium which keeps it grounded: Horrendous are dexterous players, but they don’t let virtuosity eclipse good songwriting.

On this evidence, the fifth Horrendous album could be another leap forward…