I remember listening to Horrendous around the time that “The Chills” album and the “Sweet Blasphemies” demo were out prior to this album, circa 2013 or early 2014. They were a solid, serviceable death metal band in the vein of Swedish HM-2 pedal using legends like Entombed, Dismember, early Hypocrisy, Grave, Carnage, and God Macabre. They were not the first newer death metal to hearken back to this sound, and certainly not the last. I remember seeing the album art for Ecdysis, and it immediate struck me as a big change. Not only did it not feature the band’s logo, but it also represented a change in aesthetics, which the band has stuck to since, using Brian Smith’s work moving forward, who they have stuck with as of their most recent album (Ontological Mysterium). Upon hearing the album for the first time, it was a much more varied, diverse and overall growth in Horrendous’ sound. This was maturation without losing the heavy, unlike many other heavy bands that “matured.” The opener “The Stranger” makes no qualms about keeping the HM-2 guitar tone. However, things have changed. Once the drums come in, they come in with a bit of swing to them. The riffs don’t come directly at the listener, they slither a bit on the way out of the speakers. Similarly to the guitar tone, the vocals haven’t changed substantially on here. They keep the Schuldiner-esque howl, with a bit more of a raspy edge that “The Chills” featured. The only real change between this album and the previous one is the songwriting. The band has continued to expand and tinker with their sound since this album on the following albums, but I see this album as the blueprint for what Horrendous has since become, and what they wanted to be. Songs like “The Stranger” show expansive songwriting, while “Weeping Relic” turn up the heaviness to show they are not just a band caught in technical songwriting and can still write a barnburner. They introduce more melodic elements, even in the heavier songs like “Resonator,” and even include some acoustic guitar work with “The Vermillion.” “The Vermillion” serves to give the listener a reprieve before the second half of the album comes back to cement this album as a modern classic. I also want to give special mention to “As the Walls Fell” as it feels like Jake E. Lee-era Ozzy style riffing viewed through a HM-2 lens, which is an absolute treat as a shorter song. The production on this album is lush. Whenever I think of this album, I think of the fantastic guitar sound, and the space between the drums, guitar, and vocals. The bass has a bit of a less prominent role than the other instruments, but makes its presence known, and keeps the rhythm section rock solid. The semi-clean vocals heard on Nepenthe are mixed in a way that makes them sound almost ethereal, which contributes to my feelings on this album’s production as the gold standard for death metal production. Unlike other death metal albums from around this period (Carcass’ “Surgical Steel” and Immolation’s “Kingdom of Conspiracy”), this album doesn’t cause ear fatigue after a few songs. All instruments can breathe and be heard clearly. As well, the drums sound natural (they may have used triggers, it can be tough to tell, but if they did, they did an excellent job of making sure it was not to create an overly clicky and overbearing drum sound), or overproduced. Truthfully, I wish more albums sounded as good as “Ecdysis” does. To close, Horrendous chose “Ecdysis” as an album title for a reason. It means the “shedding of skin” in Ancient Greek. This is accurate to what Horrendous achieved here. While “The Chills” was good, it was not extremely distinct. “Ecdysis” shows a band not changing who they are but tweaking their songwriting and growing into a more distinctive sound. They’re still fans of those Swedish bands but aren’t chained to sounding like those bands. When an animal sheds skin, it is still the same animal, just in a different form. Almost 10 years after first hearing this album, it is still absolutely fantastic and has not lost any of its lustre. (Just as a sidenote, I also chose the album review title as a little callback to Protector’s brilliant 1991 album, give it a listen).
