I wasn’t sure what to make of NEXHYMN at first since they appear to inhabit the burp-vocals (courtesy of a lady named Holly Wedel – Frank) and hyper-fast blasting of so-called “brutal” Death Metal. But judging a book by its cover rarely, if ever, benefits the judge and indeed NEXHYMN surprise me with solid, intense riffs. There’s something here for any Death Metal fan. Without making technicality the overall focus, and instead using skill to evoke atmosphere rather than demonstrate musicianship, songs such as ‘Undetermined Supplication’ will likely satisfy fans of any style of Death Metal. As this EP progresses the technical-but-not-showy quality I talked about falls off slightly in favor of a darker, more sinister sound. The third track, ‘Repacious Tempest’, while it still has plenty of fast picking and such, it also has discordant chords, deftly placed cymbal hits, and an overall blackened and dark feel to it. The same can be said for the title track, ‘Black Horizon’: certainly a challenge to play, but easy to access as a listener. ‘Black Horizon’ might be my favorite on the record as it sounds particularly vicious and nasty. And so it continues for two more tracks, ‘Exquisite Plague’ and ‘Death Emotion’ before it’s over. Of the last two, ‘Death Emotion’ strikes me as the most powerful, despite the fact it’s more of an instrumental outro than a full blown song. The reason I say this is because ‘Death Emotion’, though barely clocking in at 2 minutes in length, nevertheless contains a darkness that other songs on this EP achieve only after an additional minute or two of blasting. This isn’t a tragedy, but it can be frustrating for those listeners who like to go straight for the jugular rather than bruise the body beforehand. At any rate, a good band have made their first mark and I encourage you all to keep an eye out for them! www.facebook.com/pages/Nexhymn/114334125249755, www.myspace.com/nexhymn