HORNA/BEHEXEN

At the risk of including overly used terms like "sick" and "necro" to describe this split release, there are honestly no better terms to use to describe this Finnish black metal behemoth. Fret not though, I'm saving "kvlt" to use in the next review of a worthy black metal release. But seriously folks, this gift of ugliness and despair from HORNA and BEHEXEN is black metal in its purest form, giving one the feeling at various points of bugs crawling all over the body and the inhalation of thick, acrid smoke.

Available domestically for the first time the split has HORNA offering up four smoldering cuts, while partners in dread BEHEXEN deliver three generous helpings of charred remains. Both offer a similar vibe in that the tone and feel of the music is rife with a spiky and knotted guitar tone, not to mention a fabulously raw production. On the HORNA side of the split, you get largely up-tempo tracks such as "Nakyjen Tuhkasta" and "Rautamyrsky", both driven by psychotic screams, brief compositional changeups, and hideous black metal licks. Slivers of melody are heard in those dark harmonies as well. "Katketyn Jumaluuden Vartija" slows the tempo considerably, albeit with faster paced sections included, and comes off like a painfully prolonged session of self-mutilation. Wrapping up the HORNA half is "Verta Koirille", which mixes the better segments of the preceding tracks.

BEHEXEN then comes in with a louder, more treble-heavy tone and some smartly arranged guitar parts. The ominous harmonies of "Ritual of Flesh and Blood" and the full-throttle semi-gallop of "Beyond the Shadow of My Lord" with its frightening and dense riffs come at the listener in suffocating waves of malevolence. "Distant Call from Darkness" then closes the disc with a massive, gnarly riff and a steady beat overlain with a wicked guitar harmony, giving way to a section of spooky chords that seem to hang in the air before a speed romp takes the song to its grisly end.

This is definitive primal black metal. Although certain to satisfy fans of black metal's greatest acts, the split would also work well as an introduction for those wishing to delve into the bleakest reaches of the genre. What a lovely one-two black metal punch to the chops.