Gospel of the Horns - Realm of the Damned
March 22 2008 at 01:09:10 AM
Few bands form a more misleading acronym than southern Australia's Gospel of The Horns. Laced in bullet belts and denim vests while ripping white hot leads and raw Thrash riffs of a similar brand proffered by local brethren in Atomizer, Destroyer 666, Vomitor and Grenade, members Howitzer, Hellkunt, Masochist and Marauder look like they sound and sound like they should ("Blue demons that eat Christians alive. You're not a Christian are you?") Their sophomore album,
Realm of the Damned, would have made a fine epitaph for the band after breaking up in early January and still might after their reformation (about two weeks later). Their output is bred on emotional response, gut-feelings that reappear blackened by time. Songs like "Blood and Iron," "Trial by Power," "Strength through Fear" and even one track evoking Gallipoli ("1915") are not opportunities for cautionary tales as they were to many over a decade ago, but virulent expressions of Satanic cum Nietzschean perspectives of life as a cursed test of will, easily matched up with OZ's outlaw imagery.
From there, any potential caution they incur in being one out of X number of Black/Thrash-metal bands is kept at bay by their surprisingly distinct sound, with trim and catchy songwriting marked by essential pumps on the bar and smoke-tail pick scrapes as they roll through mutated nods to classics like
Kill ‘em All and
Bonded by Blood ("Death Sentence"), flush with melodic undertow and a parade of boots following under Howitzer's carrion-seeking vulture vocals. Certainly, good timing has moved them further into the spotlight (nearly all the above mentioned have broken up or momentarily lay silent) but not without perseverance (they've lasted longer than many). Gospel of the Horns have seized their moment and with balls to spare.
[Todd DePalma]
Gospel of the Horns
Realm of the Damned
2007
Invictus Productions
http://www.invictusproductions.net
print
email
RSS
list
big
small
TWITTER