Horrizon - World of Pain (2019)

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With many Melodic Death Metal bands getting a bit too melancholic for our taste, today we stumbled upon Germany’s Horrizon and their third full-length release “World of Pain”. Unleashing 11 tracks and nearly 50 minutes of old-school Melodic DM reminding us of the early days of Dark Tranquility and Be'lakor. As one of the most recommended releases for catchy riffing enthusiasts, this album has plenty of epic headbanging passages and a few surprises.

The band wastes no time in asserting their dominance with the superbly executed “Once In A While”, a track filled with crushing vocals and super melodic guitars. As the riffing onslaught continues with tracks like “Sentenced to Death”, the band changes up the pace with the more melancholic “Where Am I?”, nicely showcasing more dramatic atmospheric arrangements and guitar leads. However, the mellowness does not take over the release as the album title track and “Haunted By the Past” get back into the furious pace of tight drums, crafty riffs and brilliant tempo changes.

Further experimenting with clean vocals, “Ancient Wisdom” has a very ethereal vibe to it, while still unleashing excellent guitar leads and some crafty shifts in intensity. Keeping the crushing melodic vibe going, we are quite impressed with tracks like “Dying God”, “Lost” and “Why?”, which further elevate the band’s guitar wizardry while keeping the tracks grounded in Melodic Death Metal roots. Our favorite piece has to be the dramatic “Reborn” and its lush atmospherics.

Closing with the high-octane “Endless Rain”, Horrizon has managed to deliver a very cohesive and yet diverse and exciting release. With “World of Pain”, this German band throws their hat in the ring for best Melodic Death Metal release of 2019. If you are a fan of early Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, Dark Lunacy, and Dark Tranquility, you will certainly love this release.

Band: Horrizon Album: World of Pain

Label: Massacre Records

Release: November 29th, 2019

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Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Country: Germany

Rating: 92/100
Year: 

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