Some months ago a very obscure package arrived me. It came in a strange Cyrillic plastic bag from a label yet totally unknown to me – HAARBN from Russia. The CDs looked quite conventional – the usual skulls, castles, mummies and ancient buildings. So it went into the big “not avant-garde drawer” immediately.
Some weeks later I returned home and this strange package lay on the floor. Probably my little son had made this mess. But now something seemed strange. There weren’t just skulls, castles and mummies on these Russian CDs. There was also a train driving through a forest (GROVES IN MIST). There was a CD with titles and logo all in Arabian language (NARJAHANAM). And there was a CD with long, numbered spells instead of song titles – This was THE HORN. Could this probably be hidden avant-garde? I decided to give these albums some minutes and was surprised.
THE HORN seems to be a one-man-project from Australia, fully dedicated to Ancient Egypt and Papyrus spells. The music is quite crappy Black Metal at the first gaze. High-speed drumcomputer with a terrifyingly high-frequency bass drum, a distorted something that could be guitars or bass – or guitars pitched down for a handful of half-tones (who knows?) and some orchestral synthies for the bombastic touch. So far nothing new under Ra’s sun.
But then some strange details come in: little detuned embellishments with lead guitars and orchestra sounds, oriental melodies and long, epic parts full of tension. It all seems like an echoed voice from times long forgotten and buried deep beneath the desert sands. It seems like the conserved lips of Cleopatra’s mummy suddenly opening to spread a deadly kiss and to tell a story lost long ago in the burning library of Alexandria. Somehow this album spreads out a deep, archaic atmosphere, drawing you down into the rotten mould of a lost civilization. And the ancient spirits rise before your eyes – a yellow-red gleaming out of the dark. And they whisper and whisper through your blood right into your brain. This psychedelic effect even intensifies when you look at the video art on THE HORN’s MySpace page.
Is this already avant-garde? I am not sure yet, but it definitely could be.
– Chrystof
VITALS:
Release: 2007
Label: Haarbn Records
Avantgenre: Ancient Egyptian Space Blackmetal
Duration: 78 Minutes
Origin: Australia
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/thehornproject
Review online since: 14.06.2008 / 23:54:53
TRACKLIST:
1. Spell 81A: For Being Transformed Into A Lotus
2. Spell 29A: For Not Taking Away The Heart Of One
3. Spell 31: For Driving Off A Crocodile Which Comes
4. Spell 28: For Not Permitting One’s Heart
5. Spell 70: For Being The Successor Of Osiris
6. Spell 32 (part 1): For Repelling A Crocodile
7. Spell 69: For Being The Successor Of Osiris
8. Spell 125: The Declaration Of Innocence
-Introduction
-The Declaration Of Innocence Before The Tribunal
-Adress To The Hall Of Justice
-The Dead Man Is Questioned
-Rubric
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