Horrendous : " Ontological Mysterium"

The Philly death metal band is unleashing their much-awaited fifth album. Having reviewed their past two albums here the bar is pretty high as those earned 9's. The two- minute opening track is more of an intro. "Chrysopeia" is the first actual song that finds Horrendous extending themselves further into more of a jammy progressive, that has a more organic feel than what they did on "Idol" last time around. There are clean vocals placed at unpredictable points in the song. I appreciated guitar solos, but not someone normally impressed by shredding, take that into consideration when I tell you the guitar solos on this album improve the songs. 

These guys said they wanted to get back to a place of 80s and 90s metal, and that can be felt on "Neon Leviathan". It has a rawer more thrash like energy to it with the bass driving things forward in an aggressive manner. It's not until the end of the song that they begin to use their space age tricks. Things switch over into a more jazzy groove going into "Aurora Neoterica" which is really only an interlude leading to "Preterition Hymn".  It works off a slithering death metal groove until the melodic middle section lets things simmer down til the end. "Cult of Shaad"oh" has a hooky mid-paced groove that is more like Morbid Angel's most memorable moments. The vocals are more dramatically exclaimed when not snarled.  The moshy hookiness of the riffs is where the are excelling on this album. Sometimes this does give things a more Megadeth like groove in the manner the technical guitar playing is balance out in order to create something that sticks to your ears. 

The title track finds them hitting with a more hammering intensity, though this is balanced with an almost jazz- like nuance that recalls Cynic. Though they crunch down harder into the riffs and double bass than Cynic has. They close the album with "the Deathknell Ringeth" which carries more menace in it's snarls. The vocals are more aggressive throughout this album, but perhaps this most with the anguish from which the are screamed on this one. The fake-out ending is really well done. There is not an area this album does not excel at. In a year where there has been some really stellar death metal releases , this album tops even those. It drops the 18th of August on Season of Mist, and if you are a fan of death metal you owe it to your self to give this album a listen.