Horndal – Head Hammer Man
April 5th, 2024
Progressive Sludge Metal
Prosthetic Records
Stockholm, Sweden
Head Hammer Man is the third full length record from Swedish heavy metal outfit Horndal. Before this year I had never heard of this band, and it was thanks to my friend and bandmate Tyler who showed them to me that this album has since become one of my favourites of 2024. Admittedly the first time I played through this record I wasn’t quite sure if it was for me, but it did strike me as being particularly odd and off-kilter. For that reason I decided to give it another shot, and then another, and another, and eventually it wound up sinking its claws in and not letting go.
Right from the get-go on this thing with the very first track, the title track, there are shades of a lot of different artists going on here. The riffs feel like they’re drawing upon bands like Mastodon or Black Tusk for this really down and dirty sludge vibe, but then the next song, “Calling: Labor”, introduces some incredibly gorgeous, harmonized lead guitar work that calls to mind bands like Horndal’s fellow Scandinavians Kvelertak or Audrey Horne. That’s to say nothing of the vocals which are ridiculous deep, down and guttural without veering fully into death metal territory. The whole mixture is honestly very hard to define, but is nonetheless incredibly interesting and unique.
Vocalist Henrik Levahn is a goddamned beast on this record. His vocals are so strange and interesting despite not being all that unique in the greater context of the heavy music world. I think what makes his vocals so unique in fact is the music that backs them. He’s got a gruff, deep, cavernous voice that, again, doesn’t quite veer into death metal territory, but is nonetheless guttural. It’s got this rough n’ tumble sort of “caveman” quality to it, as if Levahn is sneering at you with every lyric that he growls into your eardrums. It’s a cool approach that definitely makes this album stand out not just from the instrumental side of things.
The riffs here are provided by Levahn as well as fellow guitarist Fredrik Boëthius Fjȁrem and bassist Daniel Ekeroth, with additional guitars being played by drummer Pontus Levahn, and holy moly are they good. Everything in the guitar and bass playing here is just so awe-inspiring to listen to. There’s something to be said specifically for the Swedish and Norwegian guitar tone and way of composing riffs when so many of the bands that come from Scandinavia who find themselves in this genre or adjacent to it sound alike. There is a significant amount of Kvelertak influence I can hear in these songs, with the bright, harmonized guitar sections standing out amongst the crowd of wilder, frenetic, more technical riffs. The Mastodon comparison from earlier is also quite apt as the band opts to include a certain degree of what I can only call southern twang in these songs, especially on the track “Exiled”. There’s a spacious quality to it all too, with many of the guitar riffs being drenched and drowned in reverb, that also calls comparisons to groups like Sahg.
Pontus Levahn absolutely kills it on the drums here, too, with many of these tracks featuring creative beats and interesting passages that keep me engaged from front to back. Aside from just the general quality and creativity of the playing, however, there is also a great degree of variety to be found on this album. Some of the drumming is quite progressive and technical, while at other points it leans further into thrash territory, like on the song “Fuck the Scabs” (great title, by the way). Other songs, like the previously mentioned “Exiled”, are softer and more spacious, and Levahn shows his ability to keep things somewhat restrained and atmospheric, always the mark of a top notch drummer.
The production on here is excellent as well. This whole album sounds absolutely massive in the best way possible. Many of the band’s lyrics revolve around concepts surrounding urban decay and the depressive atmosphere of trying to eek out a living in a concrete jungle, and the production does a perfect job encapsulating that atmosphere. This whole album feels grey and bleak, despite the songs themselves being relatively upbeat and fast in terms of their writing. The record screams “life sucks and the modern world is soul-crushing but still, we vibe”.
Horndal shocked me with this release. I had never heard of this band before and yet they have released what is easily one of the best records of 2024 thus far. The riffing is excellent, the songwriting is top notch, the vocals have gravitas, and the drumming is intensely creative. This is a soundtrack to the slow demise of a city, and I love every second of it. Don’t skip out on Horndal, because this record absolutely rules.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Awesome
Favourite Tracks:
“Head Hammer Man”
“Calling: Labor”
“Fuck the Scabs”
“Famine”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 