Customer Reviews

Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Horna is an extremely prolific band, with over 30 releases of various limited EPs and splits, but this album is easily their most complete work. Hardships were faced in the making of Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne, reflected in its intensity and spitefully ambiguous melodicism. I've heard somewhere that the best art is derived from pain, which seems to hold true here.

Horna's tight arrangements stick out immediately, transcending typical raw BM fare by utilizing oft-used folk influences; more to enhance the song structures, than to have an excuse to add Nordic chanting and other such cheese. Subtle, discordant melodies bloom over grinding black metal passages like a burning aurora in the night sky, evoking images of icy Scandinavian battlefields. Corvus screams not so much like a homicidal maniac, but a tortured spirit telling of his unfortunate past. This album ranks up there with classics like Storm of the Light's Bane and Blizzard Beasts. Recommended.
- Thus says the Pellington

As much as I am proud lately of how well the United States Black Metal Scene has gotten along, we still have nothing on Finland! The amount of quality releases coming out of there a year is astonishing. If you are a serious BM fan and dig the underground sound(Satanic Warmaster, Sargeist, Woods of Infinity) then definitely grab this release now!! IMO, this is the best Horna release yet, it's dirty and grimy, yet still retains the hummable melodies of the Peaceville-era Darkthrone!! Buy it now, 5 spikes in the air!!

I finally heard this band.....AWESOME! If you like black metal as much as I do, you need to pick up their albums. Totally freakin' rock! All out war!!!

Horna's music has always been a bit "hit or miss" in my opinion, but I believe that this is their most accessible album to date, and while the production is raw, every instrument comes through clear enough to appreciate. The songs are long, some are VERY long, but they are not boring in the least. The emphasis on melodic guitars gives this album a very epic feel to it, while maintaining its raw, underground character. All in all, the performance from all members is top notch, vocals especially, and I would highly recommend this album to any fan of underground Black Metal.

Horna has always seemed to be an underrated band within the black metal community, despite numerous splits with bands like Behexen and Musta Surma, and full-length CDs. This CD, though, really shines a new light on Horna. It's filled with raw black metal riffs, subtle folk influences, in which thankfully do not include any of that ridiculous over-used camp-fire chanting, and even some melodic instrumental passages that really seem to add to the album's greatness as a whole. The vocals are pretty much top-notch also, and even despite the vocalist's inability to utilize a bunch of different pitches, his voice relates perfectly with the music and gives off a feeling of him being captured within some hell-ish abyss where all his life's pain and suffering has come to submerge him. It's very painful sounding, yes...but also very artistically beautiful.

Some tracks that really stand out here are definitely "Kirous ja Malja" and "Kuoleva Lupaus" for their combination of raw black metal elements and melodic essence. "Zythifer" is also a really great instrumental track that takes on a similar melodic feeling to that of "Kirous ja Malja" and "Kuoleva Lupaus".

Overall I definitely recommend this album to raw black metal fans, melodic black metal fans, and fans of both types of black metal alike. I think there is a track on here that any fan of black metal could learn to like. Worth the money.

Finland's Horna delivers everything that's expected from a "true" black metal band. With a raw, distant production that really requires a lot of patience to sit through this almost 50 minute disc, Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne is an album of some awfully long songs completely devoid of melody, but rich in endless screaming, shrieking, and howling. Because the booklet is so "kvlt" that it is even impossible to read the lineup let alone the lyrics, the singer shall remain unmentioned. He has a thin, tortured voice and loves to scream through all the pieces with little to no variation employed. A bit like the classic Darkthrone records, his screams are raw and almost hurtful.

Though their US label The End describes them as "an excellent mix of underground raw black metal and folk elements", I didn't really hear any folky stuff. No acoustics, no Nordic chanting, and no Ulverian Bergtatt or Kveldssanger type of stuff either. The songs all let out ultra-fast tremelo picked guitar runs over ringing snare and drums, and an ocassionally pulsing bass drive. The rhythms are often steady from start to finish and played through deliberately thin-sounding guitars. Thankfully, on some songs, such as the "Vala Pedolle" easily eclipsing the the eight minute mark, they shift from the monochromatic aggression-filled, mindless fast riffage to a brief calm section that allows the cold atmosphere make itself visible. The guitar work on "Kirous ja Malja" is a much welcome breath of fresh air, but may piss the "true" black metallers off for actually carrying an epic melody. (Remember, anything that remotely resembles a melodic harmony discredits an album from being black metal.) This one is a short piece though and it's just the way the guitars are played. "Saastainen Kaste" features some interesting chord changes and dissonant moments that are quite enjoyable. However, the most melodic number is "Kuoleva Lupaus", where thick harmonies are blended with ferocious black metal elements. This is followed by the icy instrumental "Zythifer", featuring some great twin guitar work.

The CD booklet contains silly band pics of two guys wearing corpsepaint and texts that are no where near legible. If that's what Horna wanted to achieve, they got it. Even as a big fan of black metal, this disc simply fails me, but will have big appeal to fans who enjoy raw and grim Darkthrone production with American bands trying to recapture the mid-90's black metal movement, to no avail.