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Horse Latitudes: Awakening
10/09/12 || gk
2 bass players and a drummer get together and form a heavy as fuck doom band. Also, they’re from Finland. I guess that alone should tell you if you’ll like this or not but I’m going to wax eloquent (or try to) anyway.
Horse latitudes first came to my attention with their debut album, “Gathering” which first introduced me to the possibilities of what a double bass guitar attack can sound like when it comes to creeping, crawling doom and that album was one hell of a debut. 2 years later, the band has managed to improve on every single aspect of that album and what we have is a masterclass in minimal, ritualistic, heavy doom.
Take Profane awakening for instance. The focus is on submission through repetition with the song taking on a ritualistic feel, with the clean vocals adding a much needed spark to the proceedings as it builds slowly in momentum. This could be the soundtrack to Cthulhu rising up from the depths. “Decline of the ages” is even more minimal in execution with the drumming providing much of the momentum but it’s when they speed things up just for a bit during the second half of the song that the band sounds absolutely powerful. “Into the deep” at over twelve minutes long is the longest song here and also the most atmospheric. There’s one bass guitar playing a slow and plodding riff before the other starts on a melody over it. This is compelling enough as it is but the added weight coming from the drums and that irregular and unpredictable splash along with the clear and powerful vocals lifts this song up to epic status.
The 2 bass players have superb tone and the sound is thick and sludgy but also clear enough to let individual notes shine through and let the music breathe. The riffs are all mostly slow and measured while moving from crawling to mid-paced tempos on only a couple of occasions through the album. Drummer Harri also doubles up as vocalist and he does one hell of a song. Often, his drumming is the only bit that provides some momentum to the songs and take them forward and his beats are inventive and original. They add a much needed variety to the music and a lesser drummer could have turned this album into a big bore. His singing also needs to be praised as his strong and distinct clean vocals lift these songs and give you something to remember apart from the dense and heavy riffs.
“Awakening” is one impressive album. 2012 has been a phenomenal year for every kind of doom metal you can think of and it just seems to get better and better. Horse latitudes are somewhere close to the top of the heap with this new album and “Awakening” is essential fodder for doom fans.
- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Doomentia Records
- Website: Horse Latitudes MySpace
- Band
- Harri: vocals, drums
- Heidi: bass
- Vellu: bass
- Tracklist
- 01. Preparation
- 02. Dissolution
- 03. Profane Awakening
- 04. Decline of the Ages
- 05. Into the Deep
- 06. Along the Circles
