Sunday 22 April 2012

Horse Latitudes – 'Awakening' (Album Review)

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


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