Album Review: Forcefed Horsehead/Shaving the Werewolf - From Horrid To Worse
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
Sometimes I will read a band name or album title with curiosity, and wonder what it sounds like, and this just happens to be one of those occasions. The eight song split release is wonderfully entitled “From Horrid to Worse” bringing together Norwegian extreme metallers Forcefed Horsehead (FFHH) and Shaving the Werewolf, as they unleash their unique brand of antagonistic chaos.
It’s a collection of songs that are pushing the boundaries of extreme music as far as they can, then going a bit further and nobody leaves unscathed from the turbulence they have created. FFHH are up first with their 4 songs collectively called “The Sound of the Apocalypse” and lead with “Promisebreaker” as the quiet intro leads you into a world where the feint hearted fear to tread. Vocalist Audun Mehl is on top form throughout, and their mix of death metal, punk, hardcore, black metal, post rock and prog shows that havoc can work when blended like this.
“The Will of Many” continues in the same vein, punishing and relentless, a song proving that they’ve thrown away the rule book and gone with what feels right. The pounding drums from Thomas Godiksen will haunt many a dream, with d-beats popping off all over, and the assault doesn’t stop, as they invite Selma Bahner from Feral Nature to add her own vociferous hardcore tones on “Keelhaul”. The bass line from Arve Barsnes adds more feistiness to the sound, and their final contribution is just under three minutes of sheer bedlam called “Cryptids”.
Shaving the Werewolf were a bit more of an unknown quantity for me, but with their 4 tracks called “Disagreeable Music for Disagreeable People” they have already won me over. The opening sound, and vocal scream from Ottar, on “Smoking the Crack of Dawn” is a great introduction to their blend of nu-metal, noise rock, mathcore and power violence. The grinding bass line from Alexander is an audible treat, as the song moves along rapidly, leading into “Affordable Victims, as the pace and intensity go up several notches, with the synths from Vegard standing out.
It snaps, crackles and pops all over the composition, and you never truly know what’s going to happen next, and more importantly, that rhythm is catchy as hell. With little recovery time, “Complaining in Body Language” comes along to wreak more anarchy. The guitar from Snorre is layered and textured in the filthiest and nastiest of ways, but as a group they remain sharp and pointed. The finale slab of delirium comes in the shape of “Man Song” adding further confrontational mayhem with a twisted series of noises that are beautifully crafted to deliver an unpredictable hysteria that is sure to impress.
