Horrendous celebrate new album with special shows
Don’t miss your chance to hear Ontological Mysterium in all its twisted glory. Philly’s finest and filthiest death metal band are celebrating their new record with a special run of shows to kick off the new year. As if that wasn’t enough of a holiday bonus, they’ll be joined by fellow statesmen Outer Heaven.
Horrendous Tour Dates with Outer Heaven:
12/27/23: Worcester, MA @ Ralph’s Rock Diner
12/28/23: Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
12/29/23: Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar
1/13/24: Richmond, VA @ Bandito’s*
1/14/24: Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
* No Outer Heaven
Let your chariot ride!
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.
Ontological Mysterium Tracklist:
1. The Blaze
2. Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn)
3. Neon Leviathan
4. Aurora Neoterica
5. Preterition Hymn
6. Cult of Shaad’oah
7. Exeg(en)esis
8. Ontological Mysterium
9. The Death Knell Ringeth
Stream the album here
Order your copy here
“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, VocalsMatt Knox – Guitar, VocalsAlex Kulick – BassJamie Knox – Drums
