Death metal | Metal | Metalcore
90%
Horrible—Filth (2024)
Details
Produced at Blackout Studio. Independently released on 14 February 2024.
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Band
- Déhà—Vocals (Dropdead Chaos, Silver Knife)
- Olivier Dris—Guitar (Resistance)
- Sven—Guitar (Killthelogo)
- Ben Sizaire—Bass (Resistance)
- Jonas Sanders—Drums (Pro-Pain)
Tracks
- Horrible (3:01)
- Allies of Satan (3:06)
- Filth (2:12)
- A thousand souls (2:32)
- Dawn (0:42)
- We’ll rise (3:05)
- Blood maniac (3:12)
- Despicable (2:26)
- You Can’t Say No (2:27)
Review
Horrible is a Belgian metal project formed in 2019. It took three years for the band to find their sound and finalised their line-up when Déhà, Sven and Ben joined in 2022. “Filth” (2024) is their debut album.
The band describes their sound as bringing a “new tone to extreme metal, mixing modern elements taken from the hardcore scene as well as anything that flirts with brutal, straightforward metal.”
It is for albums like this that I am thankful that I give each (… most!) album a minimum of three listens. It took me a few spins to get inside this release and hear it for what it is beneath the violence and breakdowns. This is a surprisingly mature album for a new band which grabs inspiration from across the metal spectrum—thrash, death, black metal, industrial, hardcore, crossover, nu metal, metalcore. There is something here for everyone.
“Allies of Satan” (track 2) rattles at a cracking pace and can’t but get your head nodding (even if inside I’m personally shaking my head at the lyrics. The title track, “Filth” (track 3), delves into a more metalcore style.
“Dawn” (track 5) is more of a soundscape than a song but it acts as a welcome hiatus between sonic onslaughts. And again, “Despicable” (track 8) which is another disturbing and unsettling soundscape acts as a natural transition before the final track “You can’t say no” (track 9) which has a hardcore crossover / industrial / nu metal feel with almost rapped lyrics … don’t knock it, it’s one of the strongest tracks on the album.
Conclusion
I can’t disagree with the press release, this is “a dense and violent album with breakdowns to destroy your neck, riffs that will stay in your head, flawless drumming and insanely possessed vocals.”
Give it a listen, it’s really not that horrible. (Although it literally is.)
Review score: 90%
Video
Disclosure
Mike at Hard Life Promotion contacted me inviting me to preview Horrible’s forthcoming album, thank you. I have no connections to either Hard Life Promotion or Horrible. I’m not being paid to review this, but I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to Mike from Hard Life Promotion, and to Horrible for continuing to create fresh, exciting new metal.