Welcome to The Saw’s Butcher Shop! I am you host, The Saw; but you already knew that. Did you know that the Progressive Metal act, Horrendous, has dropped a new album on us? Ontological Mysterium (Season of Mist) was released on August 18, 2023. With their first new record in five years, Horrendous continues their career spanning evolution – from more traditional Death Metal on their debut, to a wildly subgenre stretching progressive expression on this latest release. Horrendous really is an ontological mystery!

Horrendous hails from Philadelphia, PA; formed in 2009 by brothers Matt (vocals, guitar) and Jamie Fox (drums), and Damian Herring (vocals, guitar). The band’s 2012 debut, The Chills, featured a Death-esque sound, with straight-forward Death Metal structures, and a Chuck Schuldiner-like vocal delivery. Yet, by the time their sophomore album dropped, 2014’s Ecdysis, Horrendous was already evolving – in song structures and vocal delivery. Anareta, the band’s third release, quickly followed in 2015, and it was far removed from that straight-up Death Metal sound. With the release of 2018’s, Idol (and the addition of Alex Kulick on bass), one could easily notice at least two things about Horrendous: First, this is a hard-working band (four full-lengths in six years!) and, secondly; traditional Metal is not the goal for Horrendous, this band is categorically different altogether!

So, Ontological Mysterium is the perfect description of Horrendous and their style of play. This is intelligent music. Therefore, let’s think about what is being said and done, here. The word “ontological” relates to metaphysics – the nature of being. An “ontological mystery” questions the existence of relationships between concepts and/or subjects that appear to not have a commonality. The three founders of Horrendous were classmates in college. So, challenging common misconceptions and expectations about things is what they’ve been trained to do. This is a good thing!

Horrendous brings into tension some very strong concepts that one would normally think incompatible. The point of Progressive Metal, I think, is to stretch expectations of what, exactly Heavy Metal is, and what it sounds like. On a micro level, Ontological Mysterium holds together concepts found in Death Metal, Black Metal, Power Metal, Folk, and Jazz, etc. There are some wicked gutterals on this record, but found with folk and/or Jazz concepts. Blackened vocals with Power Metal, or cleans layered with Death Metal song structures. It is really a “mystery” that Horrendous can produce anything coherent from these apparent contradictions! 

Yet, on a macro level, Ontological Mysterium fleshes it all out beautifully! It is ironic that the metaphysical subject can be fleshed-out, but that is precisely what you get on this record. Admittedly, some of the tracks on here lose me, but I respect what they’re doing. Then again, a number of them kick-ass, and I don’t know from which direction the ass-whoopen’ comes! The title track is awesome. There are some serious Death Metal structures that blend well with wide-open progression (think Opeth). Then again, “Preterition Hymn” is overwhelmingly progressive in all its structure, but amazingly obtainable and coherent. And the album closer, “The Death Knell Ringeth” is simply a banger; with simplified and ironic lyrics, and complicated song structures (think early Death). “Cult of Shaad’oah,” at its core, is pure Death Metal, with Blackened melodies; but with clean hollers combined with deep gutterals and blackened vocal deliveries. This is what I know: Horrendous are great musicians, with a vision for pushing the proverbial envelope. What they have pulled together on Ontological Mysterium, from the far reaches of the musical spectrum, is nothing short of amazing.

Rating: 8/10! This certainly is not boring material; very intelligent, and thought provoking

Favorite Songs: Ontological Mysterium, Preterition Hymn, Cult of Shaad’oah, The Death Knell Ringeth

Stay Metal,

THE SAW