Strange Horizon Premiere “Divine Fear” from Beyond the Strange Horizon
Norwegian classic prog/doom rockers Strange Horizon will release their debut album, Beyond the Strange Horizon, through Apollon Records on May 6. From the opening “Tower of Stone” through the finale “Death in Ice Valley,” the record follows a course born of traditionalism in and outside of Northern Europe. One can hear shades of various landmark acts throughout the album’s eight-track course — they’re not wrong when they call out Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus specifically below; to that list I’d add Reverend Bizarre and Pagan Altar — but even in the layered vocals from guitarist Stig V. “Qvillio” Kviljo on “Tower of Stone,” one can hear shades of modern methodologies breaking through, to say nothing of the bass tone of Christer S. Lindesteg or Kviljo‘s own guitar, or the drums of Camilla Wergeland Anfinsen, which push the opener’s swinging progression right into the Dave Chandler-esque sway of “Fake Templar” like they were shoving riffs off a cliffside into murky waters below. Extra distortion, you say? Don’t mind if I do.
Beyond the Strange Horizon plays out in such fashion, the trio well aware of where they’re coming from and who they want to be for this, essentially the first collection of their career; the three-song Demo MMXVIII from 2018 appearing here reworked in the tracks “Fake Templar,” “The Final Vision” and “Chains of Society.” They’re reorganized and spread throughout the album — it’s not that they’re tacked on for filler, in other words — and as the nodding fuzz of “The Final Vision” picks up from “Fake Templar” before it, the hook of that second track almost daring to soar, Strange Horizon offer a take less definitively retro than that of Trondheim’s Dunbarrow, for example, but still showcase their roots well, ending side A with the longer and more progressive “Divine Fear” in classic LP fashion, giving an almost hypnotic and mournful conclusion to the engaging first-half salvo while expanding on the ideas presented,
working in some more melodic flourish and entrancing the audience enough so that the snare that starts “They Never Knew” arrives as an extra snap-to-attention on linear (CD/DL) formats.
The rest of “They Never Knew” is duly brash, rawer than “Fake Templar” in its intention but still holding a swinging groove and a lyric that seems to be rife with doomly condemnation. It and “Chains of Society” together — the latter the last of the three demo pieces to appear on the record — establish a solid momentum for the second half of Beyond the Strange Horizon, longer and plenty dug in as “Tower of Stone” foretold, but moving fluidly all the while. Thus it is that the penultimate “Turning the Corner” is perfectly placed; a sub-four-minute quiet stretch born of “Planet Caravan” impulses but presented earthier, more personal, almost folkish in another context — a song that could just as easily have had a heavy incarnation but unfolds to add texture and atmosphere to the release as a whole. It is ever more righteous backed by the nine-minute “Death in Ice Valley” — which may or may not have guest vocals alongside those of Kviljo — which seeks to summarize what the band have accomplished throughout while still adding to it in terms of the near-psychedelic soloing and outward-seeming, keys-included jam at the finish, Strange Horizon having established the rules of structure and then chosen to break them with suitable aplomb.
In terms of appeal, there’s more than just classic doom happening in Beyond the Strange Horizon stylistically, but that is the ground from which the band are reaching up. This first full-length may prove formative in the light of subsequent releases to come — they certainly sound interested in building on what they do here — but the potential for what may be shouldn’t detract from the accomplishments they’ve already made in songwriting and performance, meeting trad doom head-on with individual drive. I feel like there’s more to say here about the richness of their tones and the subtle divergences there, but with “Divine Fear” premiering below, there’s no shortage of opportunity for you to hear that for yourself.
Order link and whatnot follow. If you’re wondering, “lead-heavy Scandinavian heavy metal” is the translation of what they call themselves. One is not inclined to argue.
Please enjoy:
Strange Horizon, “Divine Fear” track premiere
Preorder: https://orcd.co/strangefinal
Traditional doom metal, or as we often call it, blytung skandinavisk heavy metal! Influenced by Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Count Raven, the Finnish scene, the Maryland scene, 60s/70s proto-hardrock, blues and NWOBHM.
Strange Horizon:
Stig V. “Qvillio” Kviljo – Guitar, vocals
Christer S. Lindesteg – Electric bass guitar
Camilla Wergeland Anfinsen – drums on demo and album
