What a beast of a band! We will never not love us some Proggy Metal when executed right and in the case of Sweden’s Horndal and their latest record, they have executed their brand of heaviness perfectly. Also, how cool is a name like Head Hammer Man for an album title??? It’s also reflective of the album’s hero, the very real Alrik Andersson, who in 1909 in the also real town of Horndal led his fellow ironworkers against the steel company for their jobs and rights.
In other words, you get a kick ass album that also tells a truly kick ass story and we dig two-fold cerebral heaviness like that to no end! The album is also just filled with contradictions and sonic juxtapositions that shouldn’t work at all. But do. The title track subscribes to this for sure with these almost Jazz-like drum fills from Pontus Levahn to start then a blistering swarm of guitars like early Baroness or Mastodon… then come the organs in this kind of magical interlude before some massive RAWK happens with Henrik Levahn’s gnarly clenched jaw delivery at the epicenter.
“Calling: Labour” right now is just about our most favorite heavy song of 2023 with Fredrik Boethius’ (And both Levahn’s) glistening guitars akin to some old school Thrash harmonics, a very intricate and bodacious bass line from Daniel Ekeroth, Levahn’s snarly delivery, and just this severe crunch all around for a certifiable anthem early on in Head Hammer Man. Next, “Exiled” is another prime example of those conflicting sounds just absolutely working with a fabulously transcendent beginning offset with Levahn’s growly delivery while “Fuck the Scabs” goes in a different, more straightforward direction hearkening back to Leviathan-era Mastodon.
“Famine” is a trippy trip with Levahn’s drumming jazzing it up again amidst a sort of Psych Desert Rawk or ’50’s/’60’s kind of diabolical trippiness with the way the guitars are spun, “Evictions” deeper in is a snappy rawker as is “Orange Legacy” which just oozes urgency with pummeling riffs and beats followed by the slick, suave sounds of closer “Creature Cages” and its’ epically triumphant crawl to the end.
Head Hammer Man arrives through Prosthetic Records on April 5th. You can pre-order yours now by heading here and for more from Horndal, follow the trail of socials when you head here, here, or here.