Sanojesi Aarelle

Despite being as much of a presence in the Finnish black metal scene as Impaled Nazarene and Behexen, Horna have never quite received the same attention as their countrymen. This is despite having 37 releases to their name, including a slew of split releases, most recently a split with French nearly-weres Peste Noire. Sanojesi Aarelle follows hot on the heels of last year's Sotahuuto, which I gather is pretty much the same thing. Which just happens to be stripped-down, raw black metal (for a reference point, imagine an infinitely nastier version of latter-day Satyricon). Despite going through an array of different vocalists (including Satanic Warmaster throat Satanic Tyrant Werewolf) and drummers, guitarist/bassist Shatraug has been at the core of Horna since the beginning. He's clearly a productive man, then, having written so much material in his fifteen years with the band. But what matters is what Horna are doing now, and is the latest collection of songs from them actually any good? Well, not to beat around the bush, they aren't. It's all well played of course, guitars, drums and vocals doing very standard black metal things in the slick, professional manner you'd expect from a band on their 37th, release. In short bursts it's even quite enjoyable, opener Muinaisten Alltarilta being a solid slice of Darkthrone worship. But yet there's something not quite right about Sanojesi Aarelle, and I don't mean in that endearingly wonky Deathspell Omega way, either. Somehow, despite there being nothing particularly wrong with much of what's on offer here, this music elicits no response from me, apart from utter boredom when I start listening to this for more than a half-hour period. It's just riff after riff after riff with nothing, and I mean nothing, that causes it to stick in the listener's head afterwards. There are no hooks, no catchy melodies, not a single moment you'll remember after the track is through. I'm sure that's all part of being “kvlt” in the band's eyes, but come on, even Belketre were catchier than this! And when you consider this plods on for 2 discs, coming in at 85 minutes (You could listen to Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Bergtatt in that space of time!) the drive to even make it through the whole album is one sitting is utterly obliterated. Maybe I'm shallow, but I like my black metal to be actually enjoyable to listen to. Horna's dedication to good old fashioned orthodox black metal is admirable, but they need to realize that daring to inject a little catchiness doesn't immediately constitute “selling out” (for an example of a band who manage to be catchy while never sounding compromised, check out Peste Noire's debut.). Commitment to the cause is all well and good, but if your music can't measure up, you can, as in the case of Horna, end up looking a bit silly.