Horna - Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne (2005)

Since its initial release back in 2005 I've often seen Horna's fourth album, 'Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne' being sold for absurdly cheap prices either in record stores or online. I'm not sure what the reasoning behind that is, but its certainly a fine way to introduce oneself to a fantastic band and album. Personally this ended up being my intro to Horna, although in my case I received it as a promo CD back then.

Although I still haven't heard the bands previous record, 'Sudentaival' I was always told EESE was a drastic improvement after booting Nazgul von Armageddon from the band and welcoming Covus in as vocalist. I remember at the time of this release I had been on a bit of a sabbatical from black metal and had favored genres like neo folk and martial industrial for quite sometime, but Horna (as well as a few other key records around the time) reminded me of the twisted dark atmosphere, melancholy and evil-ish tones that black metal can carry if performed correctly. And I think that's what I enjoy the most about this album. The fact that the music is utterly raw and lo-fo in character, but still retains tons of melody and mood shifts throughout its duration.

'Vihan tie' opens the album with blasting drums, creepy uncomfortably dark tremolo picked riffs and larynx ripping screams from new vocalist Covus, while 'Musta temppeli' has a slower vibe at first, but picks up gradually and switches back and fourth through various spectral moods. 'Vala Pedolle' is one of my true favorites as the main riff is absolutely catchy and almost rockin' in a way and very well paced between lighter and darker vibes. Both 'Kirous Ja Malja' & 'Saastainen Kaste' have a more exhilarating and very memorable charm around them, whereas 'Kuoleva Lupaus' if absolutely the highest point on the album. As a more mid-paced song its filled with melodies of very epic nature but also highly sombre ones which make for a peculiar but comfortable balance. 'Zythifer' is a slow but short instrumental with a calamitous vibe and 'Kuilunhenki' closes the album in a faster and more old school sort of manner.

'Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne' is a solid effort from start to finish and while it may not exactly be anything new to the genre it seems like at least the band made some serious changes and strengthened the horde and established themselves as one of Finland's finest black metal bands with this release.