Horde of Hel - Likdagg Review
by Matt Hensch
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I think generic black metal pisses me off more than anything, and this is pretty much a perfect slice of what it means to rehash the scriptures of pedestrian black metal. Horde of Hel hails from Sweden and "Likdagg" is the band's second album. That's really the only interesting thing about the group. Yea Sweden is pretty exotic, I guess. Two albums? Well, that's one more than one. Good thing I paid attention in school. But you desire an analysis of "Likdagg?" This is going to hurt both of us, you know. "Likdagg" is more of a chore than a listening experience overall, standing at a thirteen-track album spread across an hour of doorknob-humping black metal. Somewhere beyond the wall of distortion, thuds and screams, there is a band, but their music is so haphazard and one-dimensional that it doesn't really matter.A powerful presence within the guitar work is simply nonexistent. Here's what you get: basic tremolo picking and roasting, middle-speed riffs. Both fibers are actually quite common in black metal, so there's no problem with the postulate itself. The execution, however, could put an insomniac in delta waves by the fourth track. The percussion hits harmlessly too; just moving around in the plodding cycle that is "Likdagg." The production makes the juxtaposition of instruments and techniques a jumbled pile of sounds, and trying to disfigure the riffs which hide behind the clattering drums and wailing vocals is simply an unacceptable task for the listener. They also try to fuse a few ambience/sample tracks into the dump of regurgitated black metal, but it turns out to be very pointless and annoying. Minute upon minute of random, buzzing noise? Wow, how nihilistic and hateful! Give me a break. "Likdagg" basically captures and glorifies the essentials of tedious black metal. And there isn't anything important latching on the side of "Likdagg." Not a single riff, pattern, song or philosophy breaks out of the mediocre film covering this drawn out staple of fourth-rate black metal. This is the definition of powerlessness in music; overall a very tepid and forgettable release.
Horde of Hel - Likdagg Rating:3.0
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