Tribute to Bathory. The album title means “War Cry” in Finnish.
A tribute to Bathory. Written during spring 2004 before the Master's journey from there to eternity. Recorded in January 2005 and October 2006 at the Boneyard. Originally released by Shatraug own Grievantee Productions in 2007.
Horna formed in late 1993 under the name Shadowed, formed by vocalist and guitarist Shatraug and guitarist Moredhel. The name was changed to Horna when drummer Gorthaur joined the band in 1994. Horna did not start recording until early 1995. The first demo, Varjoissa, was released in September that year and sold out. In 1996, Nazgul von Armageddon took over vocal duties and the band recorded their first full-length album Hiidentorni in January 1997, resulting in a deal with the label Solistitium Records. The band continued to release albums under this label through June 1998, when Moredhel and bassist Skratt left the band. Bassist Thanatos replaced Skratt soon afterwards, and Moredhel re-joined that August. In 1999, the band signed to Norwegian label Oskorei Productions for a vinyl-only release of the band's third album, Haudankylmyyden Mailla, and the band released a series of limited vinyl-only EPs and split albums through most of the early 2000s, with full-length studio albums coming out in the latter half of the decade. In 2002, Nazgul von Armageddon left the band, leaving vocal duties to Corvus. In July 2003, it was announced that guitarist Aarni T. Otava had left the group. Horna cited the loss of "dedication" as the reason behind his departure, and revealed that Horna's performance at 2003's Tuska Open Air Metal Festival would be their last with Otava handling guitar duties. In 2008 Horna embarked on an American tour. They played their first American show on Halloween 2008 at "The Black Castle" courtesy of underground promoter Chris "Hate War" Wood.
Horna have provided a steady stream of raw, unadulterated, unpronounceable black metal albums, each subtly different and explorative from the others. Sotahuuto does not break this trend, their sound is a bit different then other albums, but it’s still the same good old’ Horna. Sotahuuto opens with Lähtölaukaus, a track I can only describe as raw, and yet catchy and dynamic. This trend continues throughout the album- Shatraug’s riffs all differing, making the album continuously interesting. Although it is not technical in drumming or on guitar, it is still catchy, interesting, innovative and raw as fuck. The production is more clear then on other releases, which can be regarded as a good thing.
The songs all have rather unconventional structures, and are dominated by the shrieks of Corvus. His voice is high and raspy and fits awesomely with the music. The bass is a fuzzy sonic wave that is audible throughout the album, contrasted by the sharper, distorted guitar riffs. Although the riffs tend to be redundant, they maintain a level of dynamics that make them entertaining. Overall, Sotahuuto is a very well produced album, pick it up if you ever manage to find it.
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