HORRENDOUS — The Chills (review)

HORRENDOUS — The Chills album cover Album · 2012 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
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.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Diogenes wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Sounds right up my alley, got me interested.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Chrome Sludge Metal
CHROME
Buy this album from MMA partners
Pile Of Bones Sludge Metal
SLOW DRAWL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Chemical Makeup EP Sludge Metal
HAG BASTARD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Deathbed Dreamer Melodic Metalcore
LOST IN EXILE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Six Eyes And Limitless Metalcore
INFECTED ANGEL
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Lost In Exile - INCHES (Official Video)
LOST IN EXILE
Bosh66· 22 hours ago
Shining - Inga Broar Kvar Att Bränna
SHINING
UMUR· 1 day ago
Shining - Jag Är Din Fiende (official premiere)
SHINING
UMUR· 1 day ago
SHINING - Avsändare Okänd (Official Lyric Video) | Napalm Records
SHINING
UMUR· 1 day ago
Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 7 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed