Archaic Black Metal Chilean (although I have heard the band has relocated to Sweden) hell raisers HORNS have been finally able to re-release their long sought after album "Dominvs Umbraes" via None Shall Defy Records. HORNS was founded in the mid 1990s and have spawned 2 albums and 3 demos. The demos were reworked a few years ago and made into 9 tracks of the "Dominvs Umbraes" album that is on today's hot plate. The album is released on vinyl to a limited hand-numbered 180 copies and are for the GORGOROTH-style fans. The songs on here are fast and ravage the ears of the listener. From the get go the production is kvlt / raw / cold and sets the mood for the rest of the album. At times the drums tend to be drowned out due to the guitars and vocals, but it is expected with this type of production. The first track 'As Rain Falls' is a blistering track full of speed and darkness, an excellent way to start an album. 'From The Crypt' starts out with the slow doomy type of intro and progressively picks up the tempo after about a minute / minute and a half. 'Ad Baptisterium (Nocturnal Sacramentis)' was a track that was a bit stale for me. Nothing really stood out from this track except some moaning-attempted opera vocals around the 2:45min mark, but even that was not interesting. 'Upon A Nameless Grave' takes a different approach and is more mid-paced at times. This track is one I found rather interesting since it is the longest song on the album at just under 5 minutes. 'Rituum', 'Ad Limina Sepulchrorum' and 'Carmillah' were also stagnant for me. 'Ceremonical Dust' is the last track of the album. The track shifts from fast to mid-paced tempos and vice versa. The drums on this song stood out and really brought the sound to the next level. Overall this album was your typical modern archaic Black Metal slab. The album is solid if you like the GORGOROTH sound and does tread water, but there was a lot of mediocre songs that were just lukewarm at best. Still, worth checking out. www.noneshalldefy.de, www.myspace.com/adbaptisterium

Jaime Pérez

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