Though one can argue if HORRID are a mere copy of traditional Swedish Death Metal or a band that simply honours what the individual band members like best, their second full-length after “Reborn In Sin” in 2002 (which was even recorded in Sunlight Studio) “Rising From The Hidden Spheres” is undoubtedly another obvious tribute to Scandinavian old school Death. Unfortunately, in comparison to bands such as PAGANIZER, VERMINOUS, NECROVATION, KARNARIUM, AVULSION, which also quote the Swedish traditions of GROTESQUE, GRAVE and NIHILIST, the Italian HORRID simply do not have the intensity, aggression and capturing songs those bands definitely have to offer. It is quite sad to see, that a band active for over a decade, which also does everything right regarding the production (though it’s KONKHRA’s Anders Lundemark’s studio it still sounds like Sunlight only a bit heavier) fails in terms of songwriting. ‘Feeling Hate’ e.g. starts out pretty good, nicely fast and driving, but looses grip after 2 minutes, other songs disappoint me by their dominance of mid tempo and hints at faster parts, that simply do not come (‘From Here To Eternity’). It simply cannot be denied that a) there are many newer bands imitating old Swedish Dödsmetall better than HORRID do, and b) that there are way too many old bands from the North that surpass HORRID with ease. The Italian horde is not bad, not at all, but to compete with such an overwhelming number of stylistically comparable acts you have to convince not attempt to nowadays. But as a little tip: try to find a copy of the “Blasphemic Creature” MCD (1999) or the “Evil’s Birth” compilation (2002), where the MCD can be found on as well, that is really good stuff!!! (of course I once again couldn’t prevent myself from adding a little remark to this ; -) I personally worship the new HORRID material in the same way as all their previous releases! And I think that not many bands manage to capture the old ENTOMBED / NIHILIST, CARNAGE etc. vibes as good as these guys do! – Frank) Soundfiles and further infos can be found at www.horrid.it

Xtreem obviously decided to release this record on a larger scale after the band put out “Rising From The Hidden Spheres” on their own little label… and enthusiasts of the early 90s Swedish Death Metal sound should be thankful for that. Admittedly, HORRID don’t sound innovative a single bit but use all their force to deliver their contemporary homage to the sound of Stockholm some 15 years ago. I wouldn’t really compare this Italian lot to GRAVE or CARNAGE as their approach is not that much focused on pure chords and effective dark brutality. Instead, names like DISMEMBER (from the second LP on) and newer FLESHCRAWL describe HORRID’s crunchy sound a tad bit better in my opinion. As already mentioned in the review of the first edition of this record (can be found on these pages as well) the production absolutely sounds like the Sunlight Studio in its heydays. As far as I can make it out, the artwork looks like a take on HYPOCRISY’s “Penetralia” artwork (Seagrave and Giger shine through in general) so the inspiration is present on several levels. Even though the record loses a bit of impact towards the end, “Rising From The Hidden Spheres” offers cool and catchy songs in the classic Swedish style, so in case you still wait for ENTOMBED to return to Death Metal and cannot get enough of that mixture of crunchy chords, melody and pounding heaviness then this should be on your list. I could live without some lighter moments on this disc but this doesn’t really smother HORRID’s qualities. Make up your mind by checking out the soundfile on the band’s homepage. www.horrid.it