ALBUM REVIEW: Eminence – Horned

HORNED are pretty pissed at religion. As they sit comfortably atop a pile of bones as reigning lords of blasphemy when it comes to the beatdown genre, the French troupe also boast a pretty unique sound in a scene full of bands trying to simply one up each other when it comes to brutality and violence. Welding on some true black and extreme metal aspects and maintaining the confrontational attitude of beatdown hardcore, HORNED set themselves apart from their contemporaries when they first arrived on the scene. After having scrapped, grabbed, and fought their way to where they are now, whether that be to find funding or a record label to back them, HORNED have finally released their newest creation to the world. And it is rather good.

Emperor opens the record in buzz saw fashion, and immediately shows just how refined their sound has become now. Black metal riffs descend as the album fully opens up like a gateway to hell itself, and as the bass heavy Tyranny follows up the explosive opener with a haymaker, Eminence begins to show one of the best aspects of its’ run time. The pacing of Eminence is utterly relentless and benefits for it to no end. As tracks like Furnace rage and twist, the whole record eventually turns into a giant audible fist that just punches the listener again, and again.

The blasphemy and anti-religion becomes a tad heavy handed at times, and whilst still a strong subject to manifest the anger and violence needed to really elevate beatdown tracks to the next level, the samples featured throughout the record don’t go any further than the typical schtick of organised religion probably being a bad idea. The Last Humanist is a token speedbump track that barely eclipses 20 seconds and is made up entirely of anti-god rhetoric, but it bleeds in Masterpiece and it’s squealing open riff, and when fused into moments like the midway breakdown in Hegemony, the blasphemy and heresy all becomes pretty empowering.

For all the musical diversity found with Eminence, there remains aspects of the sound that do hold the album from fully achieving everything it could be. The vocal delivery throughout the record remains one dimensional, and whilst getting the job done, the rest of the album begs for some more range rather than the traditional hardcore shout and bellow. A moment of experimentation on the vocal front would have been a welcomed addition and could’ve highlighted the genuinely interesting guitar leads that crop up left and right. Sheitan is a raw and frantic song that highlights this need better than any song, and even if it still hits harder than Tyson in his prime, there are glaring aspects of HORNED’s sound that could be growing as well.

HORNED do deserve some points for having the balls to drop a self-titled song at the end of the record. Highlighting everything that makes HORNED into four minutes of progressing fury, Eminence stands out as one of the shining albums to emerge from a genre that is usually written off as the bastard son of hardcore. HORNED set themselves apart from most bands by fusing black metal and violent hardcore better than pretty much any other band on the scene at the moment. Eminence is a clear work of passion from a band trying to assert themselves as something different whilst still firmly planting their feet in the genre they love and enjoy. If the nonsense of STREET SOLDIER and PINTGLASS shows that beatdown has a genuinely fantastic sense of self aware humour, then HORNED show that beatdown can be a potent ingredient in making some truly interesting and exciting music. If CODE ORANGE tickled you with their industrial concoction then you need to dive head-first into this blackened, evil hellscape of a record.

Rating: 8/10

Eminence is out now via Rising Nemesis Records. 

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