ALBUM REVIEW: Day Of Doom Live – Horsehunter

Live albums are always a risk. There is a multitude of things that can go wrong. Even when they go right if the band can’t live up to their releases on stage, or the atmosphere of the event doesn’t come across, you’re left with a sub-par greatest hits. So, when Magnetic Eye announced four live albums, recorded at the Day Of Doom event, the risk was even greater. Remarkably, all four releases hold up well – so you can go ahead and copy and paste this introduction onto the SUMMONER, DOMKRAFT and ELEPHANT TREE reviews to follow.

Melbourne’s HORSEHUNTER grab your attention from the opening bars of Bring Out Yer Dead and proceed to drag you, kicking and screaming, through the sludge.

Each track builds to a cacophony of bruising riffs, thunderous percussion and a constant, feedback ridden bassline, all fronted by the hoarse vocals of Michael Harutyunyan. It all feels so cohesive. There is a mid-paced, hypnotic feel to each of the tracks that makes you bang your head, almost against your will. It never feels repetitive though. While Himiona Stringer and Nick Cron keep the ship steady on bass and drums, Harutyunyan and Dan Harris explore with their guitar work, pulling in elements of psychedelia.

Nuclear Rapture comes in hard, battering the listener for four minutes before almost coming to a dead stop. From here it swirls, leaning on feedback and distortion, sounding completely off the cuff and yet fitting the track. As the sound grows, you get a sense of the band’s storytelling. From the chaos of a nuclear explosion to the almost terrible calm afterwards which leads to an intense climatic flurry.

The abridged version of Witchery feels like a sprint for the band, incorporating serious groove into the riffing. It’s a brutal slab of HIGH ON FIRE riff worship that leads into the mammoth Stoned To Death. Sixteen and a half minutes of unadulterated metal. HORSEHUNTER know how to end a live show. It starts slow and each member has a chance to shine here, as the peaks and troughs of the track move unwavering. When most bands would be wrapping up, they let loose with a barrage of classic headbanging doom. Then when you think it might be ending, they buck the trend again.

When HORSEHUNTER do bring things to a close, it’s with a showcase of stunning guitar work that weaves through the backdrop of distortion and fades into the cheers of a very satisfied audience. Rightly so.

Rating: 8/10

Day Of Doom Live is out now via Magnetic Eye Records.

Like HORSEHUNTER on Facebook.