(written by Islander)
On October 3rd Dolorem Records will release Soul Awakening, the debut album of the French death metal band Horror Within. After listening to the song from the album we’re about to present, it would be a good guess as to why they named it “Tears of Angels” — because they apparently want to make the heavens cry and plead for mercy.
The music, which draws influence from the likes of Entombed and Dismember, is mercilessly mauling, brutally bone-smashing, reflexively head-moving, and as chilling as it is electrifying — and that’s true of the album as a whole. While noting that the band draw on “the roots of Swedeath — that saturated sound typical of the HM-2 pedal”, Dolorem makes another accurate observation about the album:
Horror Within isn’t just organized chaos: it’s a constant search for balance between old-school savagery and a modern aesthetic. Syncopated rhythms, dissonant textures, unexpected breaks, oppressive atmospheres — the band injects contemporary tension into their music, without ever sacrificing coherence or impact.
Gaze upon the massive, writhing tentacles of the unearthly thing that’s destroying an entire city on the album’s cover, and the electricity it’s freakishly generating, and you’ll have a very good mental preview of this new song. Immediately, the gargantuan HM-2 riffing generates maniacally writhing sensations, backed by equally gigantic low-frequency undulations and vicious, bone-cracking battery. Scorching screams and horrid roars, also crazed in their delivery, add to the song’s explosive bedlam.
But Horror Within find a higher gear of mayhem and madness, with drums blasting and the guitars accelerating into a dense, boiling frenzy. With a fast stop and start they also convert the song into a hulking stomp. More short stops and starts follow, each one followed by different manifestations of jackhammering thuggery, caustic churning, gruesome gnawing, dismal agony, and galloping catastrophe.
To enhance the horror and the misery, the song also includes a slowly squirming and frantically screaming guitar solo, and although the song shifts gears and riffs a lot, the one constant is the absolute insanity of the vocals, made manifest across a wide but always unhinged range of furious and foul expressions.
HORROR WITHIN:
Alain Souchet / Bass
Eliott Paloux / Guitars
Loris Padovani / Vocals
Maxence Beauvarlet / Vocals
Philippe Larinier / Guitars
Vincent Labelle / Drums
Soul Awakening includes vocal guest appearances by Achlys and Ondine of Silhouette. It was mixed by Horror Within, mastered at Soundwise Studio, and features artwork by Samaelle Edrakin. It brings 8 songs of brutal and melodic death metal with a total running time of 39+ minutes.
Dolorem Records will release the album on CD with a 12-page booklet that includes all lyrics, and they recommend it for fans of At the Gates, Bloodbath, and Cattle Decapitation.
PRE-ORDER:
Shop: https://bit.ly/453jb2y
Bandcamp: https://doloremrecords.bandcamp.com/album/soul-awakening
HORROR WITHIN:
https://www.facebook.com/HorrorWithin