So as black metal continues to welcome other genres into its previously satanic, church-burning fold, many of the results have been positive and, at times, brilliant, if not genre-defining -- Wolves in the Throne Room, Krallice, Altar of Plagues, Nachtmystium, Alcest, Cobalt, just to name a few. And while some purists may be resistant to such experimentation, tampering and cross-breeding, I for one am glad for many of the outcomes. Enter The Netherlands’ Terzij De Horde (thankfully changing their name from Liar Liar Cross on Fire) and their post-rock-, shoegaze-, ambient- and even screamo-littered take on black metal.
At 28 minutes, this nifty little release consists of 4 songs that will certainly appeal to fans of Krallice, Liturgy and WITTR with their mix of shrill, melodic and complex black metal littered with moments of feedback, ambiance and droning post-rock segues. Though brief at under 4 minutes, opener “Prometheans” not only delivers a succinct, compact example of the band’s style with a droning lurch and a very cool melodic riff that alternate exquisitely, but it also highlights the band’s playing/writing skill and grasp of the genres at hand. Then the almost 10-minute “Vertigo – the Mithraic Ritual” unfurls all of Terzij De Horde's influences in a rangy, varied track that’s about as engaging as anything from the bands listed in the first paragraph. From the scrawling discordance of the first half to the marching, rocked-out second half, the track is a classic example of the current black metal trend.
The similarly languid track “Roots of Doomsday” features a punchy, short-lived catchy riff about 2:10 in, and there's even a banjo transition into the killer closing track “Non Timetis Messor”, which features some brilliant, melodic black metal riffs but also some elements that some might construe as screamo- or emo-tinged black metal. (I'm talking about the vocals and some stop-start riffs and basically the guitar tone and production.)
Either way, this is a very nice release from a band that will appeal to the hipster black metal crowd, but for me, it's also a nice possible replacement for Spite Extreme Wing and a band I will be keeping a very close eye on.