Horrendous - Anareta - review
Horrendous - Anareta - review
Tracklist
01. The Nihilist02. Ozymandias
03. Siderea
04. Polaris
05. Acolytes
06. Sum Of All Failures
07. Stillborn Gods
08. The Solipsist (Mirrors Gaze)
A review by
Windrider September 18, 2015
First of all, this one is different. Anareta relates to Ecdysis like a charming and nice girlfriend to a crazy ass one. Note that this is not necessarily bad if you're a full-grown death metal guy. However, what you might be missing is something lovely and a straight line to follow. Your new significant other is one of those GPS navigation systems that wants you to do U-turns on the highway. Now, as I'm running out of comparisons you might have guessed the point already. But let's spell it out again in terms of music.
Anareta is a very difficult album to listen to at first, probably one of the most uneasy listening ones that turn out to be actually great. The foundation is again rooted in classical death metal, but this time with more rapid tempo change breaks through the sound. In this genre, however, this stands for a natural flow of melodies and it seems that Horrendous had quite some fun with songwriting. The chaotic approach also fits the performance of all the members, especially the vocals which always had an anarchic twist. On the guitar side, a massive load of melodies of all scales and tempos await the listener like a roller coaster ride and leave him with the feeling that there are still bands keeping the original idea of death metal vivid.
For me personally, and this needs to be mentioned here, there is a huge plus coming from the bass. It is still a sad reality that in metal as a whole, the bass is mostly playing a subordinate role (compared to jazz or blues). Of course there are some exceptions, especially in technical metal styles. But did you ever had the joy of watching a Nile bassist during a live concert and were wondering where all that inhuman playing results in, when you can hardly hear a note of that many that are played? For us members of the bassist guild, this can be quite frustrating. Horrendous are one of the good guys that give enough space to the bass, both in songwriting and production. The result is terrific and shows how much more depth and diversity it can add to the music.
The comparison of Anareta to its predecessor Ecdysis should be clear by now; a progression going deeper to the roots of death metal, which pleases fans of genre. Others might be irritated so it's a hit-or-miss situation for them, but who cares?
"The rest are merely humanity. One must make oneself superior to humanity, in power, in loftiness of soul, in contempt." ? and in death metalness, to add this modern detail to Nietzsche. Horrendous are once again a hot candidate for the album of the year.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Windrider | September 18, 2015
Comments
Comments:
8
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| Enemy of Reality
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Posts: 40071
Difficult to listen to this one? Not at all. I would say it is a logical step fowards when you first listen to The Chills then Ecdysis and then Anareta. I dare say it is even more melodic then its two predecessors.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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Posts: 684 Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 18.09.2015 at 13:15 For me it was not because of missing melodics but because of the various tempo changes which make it rather chaotic. In a good way though.
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Posts: 40071 Written by Windrider on 18.09.2015 at 15:39 I don't consider this album and its songs chaotic at all. I find it to be extremely structured and ordered. A lot of the tempo changes you can see coming from miles away. That sees to it that the album felt extremely familiar upon first listen, for me. Weird how idfferent people view this.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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 Posts: 5989 |
Posts: 5989
Great review, definitely sounds intriguing... I'm highly looking forward to checking this one out, as its predecessor was pretty top notch
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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Posts: 540  |
Posts: 540
Seriously an awesome album. Easily my favorite death metal release of the year so far. I did find it to be more melodic than Ecdysis which isn't bad IMO.
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Posts: 756
I loved Ecdysis, looking forward to listen to this
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