J-Man After releasing their 2009 debut demo entitled Sweet Blasphemies, American death metal act Horrendous scored a deal with Dark Descent Records for the release of their first full length album, The Chills. Like most of Dark Descent's roster, Horrendous sports an absolutely filthy old school death metal sound - and make no mistakes, The Chills takes no prisoners with its onslaughts of early nineties' extreme metal aesthetics. Low, downtuned riffing and an occasional sense of melody bring the likes of Entombed, Edge of Sanity, Dismember, and Grave to mind, and a few American bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide, and early Death are also major influences throughout The Chills. In short, if you're a fan of old school death metal, the sound that Horrendous have conjured should be right up your alley.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of The Chills is the way it manages to incorporate a sense of melody into a grimy old school death metal sound. Not at all unlike Entombed, Horrendous has quite a few guitar melodies alongside pummeling riffs - a song like "The Somber (Desolate Winds)" serves as a perfect example. In spite of this, however, The Chills is not even remotely a melodic death metal album; it's clear that Horrendous' first priority was to create powerful and intense old school death metal, and in most regards they've succeeded tremendously. Though the songwriting could perhaps be a bit more memorable at times, the passionate delivery and strong execution makes this an excellent listen for old school death metal fanatics.

I do wish that Horrendous would occasionally extend their reach beyond what's already been done before, but for a debut album, The Chills is confident and extremely promising. While it may not be an essential purchase, The Chills is a pretty damn good debut from a band worth keeping your eye on. 3.5 stars seems like an appropriate grade in this case - this is definitely worth a listen for those looking for some good old school death metal in 2012.