Philadelphia’s/Washington, DC’s forward-thinking death metal entity HORRENDOUS have announced a run of West Coast U.S. dates with Denver death metal trio Of Feather And Bone for the Western Anhedonia Tour 2019. The trek will kick off in Los Angeles, CA on April 17 and will conclude in Seattle, WA on April 21. A full list of confirmed dates can be found below.
“We’ve been itching to return to the West Coast since the 2017 Decibel Tour,” says drummer Jamie Knox. “The creation of ‘Idol’ engulfed much of 2017 and 2018 for Horrendous, so we can’t wait to get out and perform these songs for the first time out West.”
Additionally, HORRENDOUS will be performing their first show of the year this Saturday, January 26 at Adroit Theory Brewing Company’s METAL FEST in Purcellville, VA.
1/26/2019 Adroit Theory Brewing Company – Purcellville, VA w/ Outer Heaven, Foehammer [info]
End Tour
5/11/2019 Graveland Festival – Hollandscheveld, NL [info]
HORRENDOUS will be touring in support of their Idol full-length, released late last year via Season Of Mist Records. Drawing inspiration from both personal and national crises, Idol‘s music is a methodical and unapologetic take on dynamic, progressive death metal. The album sees HORRENDOUS at the highest echelon of their musical creativity to date. Thematically, Idol is an exploration of defeat; of the gods we build in our minds to escape the responsibility of action and change as we relinquish our agency. Idol‘s music mimics this act of deity building, with sprawling compositions that are imposing in scope and mirror the great turmoil of our times. Tracks like “Soothsayer,” “Golgothan Tongues,” and the monumental “Obolus” position the band in a league of their own, as one of the death metal’s leading new entities.
The record continues to earn praise from critics globally and pillaged 2018 year end lists earning the #28 spot of Decibel’s Top 40 Albums, #24 of Revolver’s Top 30 Albums, and #4 and #11 respectively of Popmatters’ Top 5 Best Progressive Rock/Metal Albums and Top 15 Best Metal lists. Horrendous landed at #22 on Metal Nation’s Top 50 Hard Rock and Metal Albums for 2018 with Idol, who hailed the album as, “Grotesquely beautiful.”
Bandcamp included the record on their Top 15 Metal Albums list noting, “Idol represents the fullest embrace of their progressive tendencies to date,” championing the record’s, “free jazz feel that echoes the early ’90s work of Death, Atheist, and Cynic,” while Pitchfork concurred in their Best Metal Of 2018 list hailing, “a beautiful record not just in its tranquil moments (the gorgeous interlude ‘Threnody’) but also in its sophisticated compositions.” Elsewhere, the sentiment echoes with the record ranking in at #2 on Heaviest Of Art blog’s Top 30, #24 on Last Rites’ Top 25, #7 on Metal Trenches’ Top Metal, and #8 on Vinyl Me Please’s Top Metal Albums of 2018.
Stream Idol in full at THIS LOCATION.
HORRENDOUS’ Idol is available in various formats via Season Of Mist at THIS LOCATION.
HORRENDOUS formed in 2009. The band’s three founding members (Damian Herring – guitar, vocals, Matt Knox – guitar, vocals, Jamie Knox – drums), driven by a desire to capture and rekindle the mystique of a bygone era in the history of metal, fused elements from progressive metal, old school death metal, and more, into a cohesive sonic landscape. These initial compositions resulted in the of release their debut full-length ‘The Chills’ in 2012. The album received critically acclaim upon release, and was cited as “a preposterously flawless debut album. The old school just got schooled.” (Metal Injection).
Following the release of ‘The Chills’, HORRENDOUS began to expand upon their traditional death metal leanings, conjuring a bolder, more sophisticated musical approach from a wide-cast net of elements beyond the limitations of any genre. This lead to the back-to-back releases of ‘Ecdysis’ (2014) and (after relocating to Philadelphia,) ‘Anareta’ (2015). Both albums were incredibly well-received by both the heavy metal underground and critics alike. Each successive record marked a new step in the sonic evolution of the band and carried them further on their adventurous journey of musical awakenings.
Upon the release of ‘Anareta’, HORRENDOUS saw significant acclaim from mainstream music journalism, as the record was championed as “stunning” by Pitchfork, “A momentous and unconventionally poignant achievement… Anareta is death metal painted not with just reds and grays, but with the palette of human experience.” (SPIN), and saw the band “fearlessly reaching skyward, peeling off guitar leads that climb like clock towers or church steeples: intricate constructions resulting in monuments that are breathtaking to behold from afar, and almost impossible to believe when examined up close.” (Stereogum)
‘Anareta’ went on to top many best-of lists in 2015, making appearances in Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, SPIN, Decibel Magazine, Apple Music, Yahoo Music, and countless other publications, blogs, and websites.