Horn of the Rhino - Grengus

The opening riff of Grengus lets you know what you’re in for here: a dense and dirty thrashfest. Horn of the Rhino vocalist Javier Gálvez has thankfully let up on his soulful crooning a little, there only really being one Mariah Carey part near the end on Brought Back. Now these tremolo outpourings of emotion are always going to be a love it or hate it thing, and there’s always going to be certain kind of metalheads that enjoy it or don’t. I think it works sort of well in the context of an interlude as is done on the new album Grengus, just not so whiningly prevalent as they are on Weight of Coronation, which was an album full of really great riffs and really irritating vocals. I didn't get into it so much on the second listen and less on the third. But anyway, it’s nice to hear that wretched thrash scream that we remember from back in the days of Rhino’s Dead Throne Monarch (Horn of the Rhino were called simply Rhino until about 2010 or about that, when they had to change to HotR for legal reasons).

And they really do belt it out for the first couple of tracks, riffs like tones of bricks coming down, until we slow down on track three, Grengus, and the clean vocals come in, and even though this is not the really “improvved”, vocal noodling part but just some singing, I’m still not quite satisfied. Part of me likes them, and part of me thinks they’re just to lame – I mean theatrical – for a band that is trying to be as flatteningly heavy as HotR. So the album loses a little momentum, but it continues to drop some really killer riffs. HotR are comparable with High On Fire, I think they have a similar pacing, but there is a lot mot sludge and death metal influences here as opposed to the latter band’s groovier stoner sound. Hints of black metal can be found from at times too, and I feel that this is a side which Rhino should bring out more in the future, as I found that his howls were particularly anguished and desperate (see Waste for Ghouls).  There is some more brutality to follow on the following track, and then the centerpiece builds from ominous piano chords to a would-be sludge monster that sports singing I’m never going to love, but can appreciate for a couple of listens. And finally we finish with a nice little cracker on To Ride the Leviathan.

In short: HotR have no problem writing a heavy riff, there are many bangers on this album, but I feel they've overdone their structures a bit, and it fails to ever really imprint any of the individually excellent riffs on my mind. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy Grengus, it is probably HotR's best album to date, they just need to put all the pieces together correctly.

Standout tracks: Pile of Severed Heads, Waste For Ghouls

Score: 7.0