By: Aaron Pickford
Album Type: Full
Length
Date Released: 10/2/2012
Label: Doomentia
Records
‘Overall, ‘Awakening’ is an album which confounded me as a listener
and whilst it is not the most uplifting album imaginable, quite the opposite in
fact, I feel it is a truly breathtaking album. Clocking in at 45 minutes,
this album is 6 devastatingly heavy dirges and quite simply an album of epic
proportions! A must buy.’
‘Awakening’ CD//DD//LP
track listing:
1). Preparation
(2:40)
2). Dissolution
(7:25)
3). Profane
Awakening (7:42)
4). Decline
Of The Ages (7:18)
5). Into
The Deep (12:59)
6). Along
The Circles (9:21)
Horse
Latitudes is:
Heidi
| Bass Guitar
Harri
| Drums, Vocals
Vellu
| Bass Guitar
The Review:
So
my fellow sludgeheads, when you think of metal bands, hands up if you have
heard a band which incorporates two bass players and a drummer who is the lead
vocalist? Is your hand raised? No, mine isn’t either! To say this band is not going to have mass
appeal is probably the understatement of the century, I can categorically say
it is not, I repeat not going to be to everyone’s
taste. This album is for fans of slow droning ‘doooom’, and like fellow
Finnish heavyweights Fleshpress, Horse Latitudes’ music is without question some of the
heaviest you are likely to hear, this side of Hades.
Beyond
the realm of any music I have heard before, the first question you might want
to know is, is it any good? Well, yes it is! This is not so
much an album, but a statement that Horse Latitudes are not
interested in playing by the rules. Instead they are using the platform of
traditional doom and taking it to another realm, an event horizon, a point of no return making it impossible to escape.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about. Horse Latitudes are intent on
inflicting pain on the listener of monolithic proportions and the music on
offer here is epic and foreboding; it is a soundtrack to an imminent
apocalypse. The songs are not so much music but evil incantations read
from the book of the dead, helping the undead journey through the underworld.
On
their new album, ‘Awakening’, Horse Latitudes take the listener through the bowels of
hell, using droning bass and vocals that act as the conduit, helping navigate
us through this outlandishly beautiful journey. The opening track, ‘Preparation’, couldn’t
be more of an appropriate description, with its ghoul like gurgles at the
beginning. It is a prelude to a journey you have never experienced in your
wildest dreams. Dissonant bass, pounding drums and a thick cymbal sound
are only the beginning. It is not until ‘Dissolution’ begins,
until you’re fully able gauge the epic range of sound on offer. The sluggish
battery of bass passages, repetitive cymbal crashes is like a hypnotic din,
with Pete Steele ‘esque’ vocals seemingly intent on summoning evil demons to
our world.
‘Profane
Awakening’ is another titanic hammer blow; with the
Norse god Thor being the architect. It isn’t so much a song but like an
evil strain of the Ebola virus, starting with flu like symptoms but then
manifesting itself to affect the very core of your nervous system. It is
music which is not for the faint of heart. The highlight here comes in the form
of the Peter Steele ‘esque’ vocals again acting as the antidote to counteract
the bludgeoning bass and drums. The dynamic choice of singing style
injects emotion and apathy to the song, yet the song ends to the din of a gong
crashing, with the mumbles of the demons that have been summoned, reminding us
of the journey you have chosen to take,
On ‘Decline Of The Ages’ it seems
the band take a more conventional approach to the doom influence of yesteryear,
with nods to the sound of Candlemass, but also
harking back to the sound of say Type O Negative. Horse Latitudes with the thickness of the dissonant bass,
manage the seemingly impossible, to resemble the sound of a much distorted
guitar and continue to distort the listeners perception of what is in fact
fantasy and reality. ‘Into The Deep’ is a
monumental 13 minute epic, but with few variations in the musicality, it will
stretch even the most devoted drone fan to the point of breaking point.
What Horse Latitudes are attempting to do, is to
break with convention, by taking a more minimalist approach to their music,
they are stretching the boundaries of what is possible, showing that you can be
brutally heavy and progressive without having to be flashy.
Allowing the listener to decide whether it is a journey they wish to take.
‘Along The Circles’ signals
the end of this dark and perverse journey; however they ensure that during the
next 9 minutes the end will be as devastating as the beginning. Indeed
this track exhibits some of the more creative and technical aspects of the
album, reinforcing that there is more to the band than meets the eye, showing
that they are not only accomplished musicians, but they are song writers of
integrity, vision
and imagination.
Overall, ‘Awakening’ is
an album which confounded me as a listener and whilst it is not the most
uplifting album imaginable, quite the opposite in fact, I feel it is a truly
breathtaking album. Clocking in at 45 minutes, this album is 6
devastatingly heavy dirges and quite simply an album of epic proportions!
A must buy.
‘Awakening’ is
available here
Band info Bandcamp | Big Cartel | Facebook
