
What doesn't kill you...
-- Growing Horns --
26/12/2019
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
■ | Sludge metal |
■ | Doom Metal |
Album artists:
■ | Dafus Demon | Vocals |
■ | Wim Vekeman | Bass |
■ | Didier Cottenies | Guitar |
■ | Sven Caes | Guitar |
■ | Simon Vandoom | Drums |
Review written by Stijn "Metal Shredder" Daneels.
[METAL SHREDDER REPORTING]
2 years
ago, during the inaugural edition of the Doomsday festival in Zwevegem I first
encountered this up and coming act called Growing Horns. Over the past couple
of years I kept in touch with the band and frequently saw them perform in various
venues in and around my local area. While I’ve always enjoyed Growing Horns
perform live, I was getting more and more curious to get some recorded material
in my shredding hands. And now that time has finally come…
[SHREDDING BASICS]
“The
Nobility of Pain” is the debut EP of the Belgian doom/sludge metal band Growing
Horns after their formation in 2015. It’s an independent, 5-track release,
personally sent to us by the band’s vocalist Dafus Demon. Thank you very much!
While
Growing Horns may feel like a regular doom metal band at first but there are
plenty of things that make this particular band stand out from many of its
other brethren. First off, Growing Horns put a lot of emphasis on bass, adding
a thunderous groove to their sound. In addition, there’s also much melody in
the guitar-department and plenty of variety in terms of speed and overall feel,
with certain parts on the EP having marching, groove metal inspired shredding
while other sections feature the typically drawn-out doom riffs and finally
there are the several psychedelic sludge parts.
There aren’t
a lot of vocals in those tracks and when vocalist Dafus does come up, his style
mainly consists of whispering, hissing, growling and other demonic sounds. His
voice is often heard in the background with the bass, drums and guitars taking
center-stage. To great effect, not because Dafus is a poor vocalist (far from
it), but because his crispy voice further adds to the dark and brooding
atmosphere of Growing Horns’ sound. Like an infernal priest reading hellish
incantations over the furiously pounding beats or the whispers of a dying man
in a post-apocalyptic world.
[SHREDDING VISION]
Pain is the
central theme on Growing Horns’ debut EP. Physical and mental pain, social
oppression and cynicism towards the world are all represented here with the EP’s
ending song “2084” paying homage to George Orwell’s iconic dystopian novel 1984.
The EP’s cover art features references to the EP’s five songs as well as the
band’s multi-horned ram-headed mascot ready to butcher an angel. The whole
cover is drawn in black & brown and looks very comic-book like. I certainly
enjoy the artistic style of this cover.
[SHARPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]
2084 is my
personal favorite tune on the album. Starting off with a weary sense of doom but
gradually getting more upbeat and eventually exploding into a beautiful dual
guitar solo and finally with some peaceful piano tunes. It’s like the people of
Oceania finally fighting and successfully destroying the oppressive Ingsoc
regime, earning their freedom. Just like in the iconic Apple Macintouch Super Bowl
commercial.
Personally
I did feel that the songs “We’re All Made Of Scars,” and “Butcher’s Blues” took
a bit too long to get started. Both songs begin with a minute-long ambient
section and feel unnecessary. Good thing both tracks get to their juicy meat
straight thereafter.
[SHREDDER’S SCORECARD]
8 hammer
throws out of 10. Growing Horns takes the tried-and-true doom and sludge
formulas and injects them with a very healthy dose of melody, pacing and
atmosphere. Add to that an awesome lot of bass and spices of thrash, death and
groove metal and you’ve got one horny package! So enjoy “2084” and let us all
work together to make sure 2084 won’t be like 2084.