Terzij de Horde – A Rage of Rapture Against the Dying of Light

Terzij de Horde (athwart the Horde) are a Dutch amalgamation of black metal, doom, hardcore punk and a handful of other genres – all successfully thrown into a blender to create a unified, succinct sounding style that lies somewhere between Krallice’s driving, epiphany provoking black metal and Khanate’s gateway to insanity.

Opener ‘Prometheans’ is a textbook example of the bands ability to dive freefall into discordant, atonal doom before a melodious bombast of black metal breaks and cascades over the remnants of the four minute track. A superbly crafted balance between tension, release and progressive build up that acts as a great little opening track.

‘Vertigo – A Mithraic Ritual’ essentially continues this juxtaposition of doom and black metal on a larger scale. Vocals are reminiscent of earlier day screamo, drums echo a hardcore punk influence and while they make it no secret that the outfit originated playing filthy hardcore and grindcore, their awareness of atmospheric value gives them a progressive edge that tilts the boundaries into the post black metal styling of Altar of Plagues or Krallice. ‘The Roots of Doomsday Anxiety’ ends in some psychedelic, bluegrass tangle of discord and melody before seamlessy blending with the final track of the EP. ‘Non Timetis Messor’ is a superb exercise in the bands ability to transform their melodic brand of black metal back and forth into post-hardcore madness.

The EP in its totality, ‘A Rage of Rapture Against the Dying of the Light’ represents an excellent amassing and coagulation of a number of genres that in themselves appear quite disparate. As tight as a band can get, songwriting is top notch and lyrical/aesthetic ideology sits perfectly with me (dark, vitalistic philosophy anyone?). They manage to pull something uniquely captivating from the fray that leaves me wishing LURKER was more than just an online zine, that it was a record label and that I could print and support this promising band like my heart tells me someone desperately needs too. Highly recommended.

EDIT: You can listen to the EP at the bandcamp page. Soon to see the light of day on vinyl courtesy of Antithetic Records!

You'll find me in the vast wilderness of British Columbia, talking metal at LURKER, or working in publishing and front-end web/eBook development.

6 Comments

  • Reply June 13, 2010

    Richard

    Non Timetis Messor is orgasmic.

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