Metalheads everywhere are still having a hard time deciding whether to crown Ontological Mysterium or The Enduring Spirit as the best album of 2023. They don’t have to choose any longer, because Horrendous are going on tour with Tomb Mold.
Let your chariots ride this summer with two of this generation’s most celebrated death metal bands. The tour starts in Tomb Mold’s native cavern of Toronto before blazing into Horrendous’ hometown of Philadelphia. From there, these kindred spirits will crush their way down the East Coast before spinning heads during a final transcendent performance in Brooklyn, New York.
“Ever since an all-too-brief weekend stint of live shows in 2018 with the masterminds behind Tomb Mold, we’ve dreamed of uniting forces for something greater”, Horrendous says. “Six years later, the time has finally arrived! Join us in our pilgrimage across Canada, the Midwest, the South and the East Coast as we tour in celebration of Ontological Mysterium and The Enduring Spirit. You don’t want to miss what will surely become a historic moment for genre-defying, boundary-pushing, thought-provoking death metal”.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 26 at 10 am local time.
Get your tickets at this link: https://www.season-of-mist.com/news/horrendous-2024-04-24/
Tomb Mold and Horrendous Enraptured By Fate’s Tangled Thread Tour
July 4 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
July 5 – Montreal, QC @ Les FouFounes Electriques
July 6 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East / Downstairs
July 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
July 9 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
July 10 – Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary
July 11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle
July 12 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies
July 13 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
July 14 – Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
July 16 – Austin, TX @ The Lost Well
July 17 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
July 18 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
July 19 – Atlanta, GA @ Boggs Social & Supply
July 20 – Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub
July 21 – Miami, FL @ Gramps
July 23 – Greenville, SC @ New Radio Room
July 24 – Raleigh, NC @ Chapel of Bones
July 25 – Richmond, VA @ The Canal Club
July 26 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
July 27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Monarch
Ontological Mysterium is a labyrinth. The deeper in you go, the more this album twists and churns, luring you toward some monstrous final battle. The riffs on the title track slice like the blades of an Apache helicopter, while the battle cry that opens “Cult of Shaad’oah” will make you feel like you’re about to carve up a volcano full of giant, flaming snake warriors.
“Somehow these guys can take Iron Maiden, mesh it with ’90s prog-influenced death metal masters like Atheist, dispense with traditional metal song structures and create something that you’ve never heard before”, writes Metal Injection.
Lambgoat says “Ontological Mysterium is a pholosophical treat cloistered within some of the most ravenously delectable death metal you could subject yourself to this year, perhaps ever”.
Stream: https://orcd.co/ontologicalmysteriumpresave
Order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/HorrendousShop
More praise for Ontological Mysterium
“Another triumph of intelligent, sumptuous progressive death, cementing themselves as one of the most important death metal bands of the past decade” – Angry Metal Guy
“Horrendous have made one of the best death metal albums, not only this year but in recent memory…a modern death metal classic” – Metal Sucks
“Rather than rely on the tropes of death metal they use them as tools to drive the point home, allowing melodies room to breathe” – Ghost Cult
“If you’re a fan of this era of metal, there is no better time than now to tune in” – No Echo
“By far their brashest play yet” – Pitchfork
“Their music is extremely accessible, crossing through several genres whilst having a melodic and catchy vibe. Perhaps it feels so accessible because whenever I myself listen to Horrendous, it just feels like they’re having so much fun.”. – New Noise
Tracklist:
1. The Blaze (02:00)
2. Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn) (07:16)
3. Neon Leviathan (03:30)
4. Aurora Neoterica (01:56)
4. Preterition Hymn (03:58) [LISTEN]
5. Cult of Shaad’oah (05:24) [WATCH]
6. Exeg(en)esis, (03:38)
7. Ontological Mysterium (04:44) [WATCH]
8. The Death Knell Ringeth (05:20)
Total run time: 37:44
“Surprises always come up during writing — spontaneous ideas pull you into new territory and enable the realization of novel possibilities that previously were inaccessible.”
Such are the words from Horrendous drummer Jamie Knox when discussing the creation of the band’s fifth full-length, the highly anticipated ‘Ontological Mysterium’. Knox’s quote also encapsulates Horrendous’s approach to extreme metal. Since 2009, the band has capably tapped into the inaccessible by providing a fresh, unconventional take on death metal that harnesses technical brilliance with elaborate, mind-melding melodies, frothy, spewing vocals and labyrinthine song structures. This combination has made each Horrendous long play a clinic in the gratifyingly unorthodox. The trend continues on Ontological Mysterium.
The follow-up to 2018’s Idol was recorded, mixed and mastered at Subterranean Watchtower Studios in Virginia, which doubles as the homestead of guitarist/vocalist Damian Herring. While the band (completed by guitarist/vocalist Matt Knox and bassist Alex Kulick) finished much of the songwriting for Ontological Mysterium in 2019, its recording was delayed by the 2020 global pandemic and various life events. Horrendous eventually finished recording in early 2022 and mastered the album before the start of 2023.
The album upholds Horrendous’s position as one of the underground’s best outside-of-the-box extreme metal bands. Having long abandoned concern whether people would appreciate their “uniqueness,” Horrendous has embraced its role as a band willing to veer far from death metal conventions, intentionally stretching and breaking norms. To wit, the band primarily views its music as filtered through a death metal lens. This may be Horrendous’s defining trait: By not accepting parameters, nothing is off-limits.
Lineup:
Damian Herring – Guitar, Vocals
Matt Knox – Guitar, Vocals
Alex Kulick – Bass
Jamie Knox – Drums
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