Horrendous – The Chills (Dark Descent Records)
And the prize for least appropriate band name goes to Horrendous. Because they're not. Unless a listener isn't inclined towards listening to the sort of death metal that was prevalent until about '92 or so – the kind not predicated on technical wankfests, hardcore breakdowns, ubiquitous blastbeats, or At The Gates worship. The kind that thankfully is coming back in fashion again, as much as anything like this could be described as “in fashion.” And I could be wrong about this, but based on the photos of Horrendous that I've seen, none of them look like they were even born when this first wave of death metal was petering out (though they could just be blessed with youthful visages), rendering their take on this style all the more impressive.
The best part about The Chills isn't even that it sounds like any particular band who was active during this genre's nascent years – more that it evokes the spirit of that era. There are shades of different influences but, early on, bands playing this style often had fairly distinct characteristics. It isn't always easy to distinguish, especially for those unversed in such matters, but Morbid Angel was pretty distinctly different from Entombed, who were in turn stylistically separate from Obituary or Convulse. Horrendous has a similarly distinct sound. There are some faster parts, as one would expect with this sort of band, but Horrendous has a good grasp of songwriting and dynamics, allowing just enough melody in the songs to render them memorable without letting it overwhelm the songs with schmaltz. Because a little melody goes a long way, and the last thing the world needs is another In Flames.
But it's solid. It's reverent without being retro, accessible without being watered-down. I don't know if it'll win over anybody who's not already completely enamored with this sort of thing, but that's not in any way a slight. This sort of metal was supposed to be the sort of thing that alienated and confused people. It's easy to forget that now that everything is so easily accessed, but the bands invoked by Horrendous sounded genuinely menacing in their day. In this era of safe, sanitized music-as-entertainment, even something that can call to mind that sort of artist is a welcome respite.