This is a lot of sound from three people. Those were my first thoughts during the opening of HORN OF THE RHINO's fifth studio album, "Summoning Deliverance". My second was "holy crap, these are annoying vocals."

It's not that Javier Galvez can't sing; he proves that during the titular track "Summoning Deliverance". It's that he chooses not to. I found the sound coming out of his mouth throughout the majority of the record to be incredibly jarring and distracting from the generally good music going on behind it. Thankfully however, the three-piece let the music do the talking for the most part and prove that they can indeed write fairly decent music- as they should do with four previous albums under their belt.

That said, it's still hard to understand the presence of the intro track "Awaiting The Scourge", which is essentially nearly 2 minutes of pointless ambient sound switching abruptly and crudely into the second track. This happens again later in the form of "Drog Om Thraal", which again is a minute of ambient screams which admittedly transition quite nicely into "Grim Foreigners", which has a very nice riff in it towards the end which sounds like it 'borrows' quite heavily from SLAYER's "Raining Blood".

The worst sin committed by the album however, is not its cheeky wink to the Thrash legends' signature song- it's that the majority of it is simply BORING. Many of the songs are very repetitive and don't go anywhere at all, in particular the final track- which should leave you wanting to hear more- instead just plays the same heavy riff over and over and fades out.

One exception to this is the penultimate song, "Builder Of Carrion Effigies", which is the same for the most part but then hits its stride on the homestretch and builds up in tempo until it becomes a thundering, galloping powerhouse. This is the high point of the album, which is why it's a shame that it only lasts for a couple of minutes before we're back to the drudgery.

It's clear from the Lovecraftian cover art and evocative song titles that the Spanish band were going for something epic here, which is why it's a shame they missed the mark. The loaded, weighty sound is certainly powerful and ticks all the heavy boxes that the band go for, but the album is ultimately let down by a lack of innovation.