(written by Islander)
“Next Friday, February 13, two of Norway’s most unhinged entities collide as Forcefed Horsehead and Shaving the Werewolf unleash their split EP From Horrid to Worse, a violently inventive, no-rules document of chaos that feels less like a release and more like a controlled detonation.”
That’s how the press materials have announced this new split, and it’s spot-on. So is this further introductory comment:
On one side: Forcefed Horsehead, weaponizing grindpunk, death metal, hardcore and hysteria with apocalyptic precision. On the other: Shaving the Werewolf, twisting powerviolence, noise rock, nu-metal and mathcore into something deeply uncomfortable and disturbingly catchy. Together, it’s all bruises, whiplash, and creative malpractice of the highest order.
To back up these words, what we have for you today (along with introductory comments of our own) is a full stream of Horrid to Worse in all its apocalyptic and poisonous glory.
FORCEFED HORSEHEAD
The Forcefed Horsehead side includes four songs. They open with a slowly swelling romp named “Promisebreaker” that combines punk rhythms, vividly pulsing and seditiously squirming riffage, hair-on-fire yells, and gritty roars – with moments of bleak tremolo’d riffing and melodic desperation in the mix.
Not long ago I finished a terrific pair of epic fantasy novels by James Islington – The Will of the Many and its sequel The Strength of the Few. There’s probably no connection, but Forcefed Horsehad’s second song is “The Will of the Many”, a nice coincidence. It again features electrifying drum-work (including some blasting this time), along with viciously surging and rapidly jabbing riffs, pulse-pumping bass-lines, and another dose of unhinged blood-spraying vocals (and unhinged lead guitars too). It’s even more violently berserk than the opener, but will get legs jumping at the same time.
The third track “Keelhaul” includes a guest appearance by Selma Bahner from Feral Nature. It will come as no surprise that the song doesn’t back down from the fight started by the first two tracks. It’s a fast-paced gallop, again segmented by blast-beat fusillades, and it features maniacally writhing guitars and Bahner’s blistering, sky-high screams. When the two vocalists pair up, the fury is face-melting.
To close, Forcefed Horsehead inflict “Cryptids”, a nasty and mentally searing piece of work that’s distressing to hear, very much like a sonic capturing of evil menace and grim oppressiveness, but with bursts of raging resistance in the works.
FORCEFED HORSEHEAD is:
Audun Mehl – Vocals
Arve Barsnes – Bass
Rikard Jonsson – Guitar
Patrick Wivegh – Guitar
Thomas Godiksen – Drums
SHAVING THE WEREWOLF
Now we move to Shaving the Werewolf’s side, also four songs long. Those grindpunk firestorms ignited by Forcefed Horsehead might leave some listeners feeling battered, burned, and rung out, and so Shaving the Werewolf’s opener, the hilariously named “Smoking the Crack of Dawn”, might come as something of a relief – but only at first, until it becomes apparent that it’s a piece of asylum-strength lunacy.
It has a kind of lurching mid-paced momentum, a big and burly bass-throb, and riffing that brutishly snarls, matched with gritty, splintering yells that sound past the edge of sanity. The song also segues into d-beats, brings in crazed muttered words, convulses in fretwork spasms, punishes with jackhammer grooves, and augments the madness with swirly keyboard notes.
“Affordable Victims” reinforces the notion that Shaving the Werewolf are way off their meds. It romps and bounces, but the guitars (and/or keys and/or trumpet?) sometimes sound like the ecstatic wail of lunatic sirens up in the high end or contort in dissonant frenzies, the bass vivaciously bubbles, and the vocals are again criminally insane.
It’s difficult to imagine how this band could top the free-wheeling and surprising wildness of “Affordable Victims” but with “Complaining in Body Language” they give it a strong shot, deploying doses of fretwork that feverishly skitters, frenetically spurts, and riotously shrieks; drumming that’s again constantly in flux; larynx-threatening cries and screams; and warm frolicking bass-lines. “Complaining in Body Language” will not stop your head from spinning, but will spin it faster.
And of course the closing song on this side, “Man Song”, has no interest in diverting you into any kind of comfort zone. The shrill lead-guitar excretions are dissonant and unnerving, the screamo vocals and the deeper, toothsome snarls scary as shit, and the drumming an acrobat’s delight. Near the end, the pace slows, the bass gruesomely growls, the vocals come apart at the seams, and it feels like we’re at ground zero for the apocalypse. When the song explodes one last time, it still sounds apocalyptic, like hysterical irradiated crowds fleeing for their lives.
SHAVING THE WEREWOLF is:
Snorre – Guitar
Alexander – Bass
Vegard – Trumpet, Synthesizer
Ottar – Vocals
Kenneth – Drums
From Horrid to Worse will be released February 13 on all digital platforms, with physical editions to be announced soon. For more info, check the locations linked below. And most important, listen to the entire split below!
FORCEFED HORSEHEAD:
Bandcamp: https://forcefedhorsehead.bandcamp.com/album/from-horrid-to-worse
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forcefedhorsehead
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forcefed_horsehead
SHAVING THE WEREWOLF:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shavingthewerewolf
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shavingthewerewolf
Bandcamp: https://shavingthewerewolf.bandcamp.com