Finnish Black Metal veterans HORNA are back again with their newest record "Hengen Tulet". Having been around since 1993 (they're as old as I am!), HORNA certainly aren't new to the scene and have helped pioneer the Finnish Black Metal genre over their twenty two years in the scene. They've survived this long without making the dreaded change to "melodic black metal" like a lot of their comrades have done. I was so excited to review this album, having been an avid listened of this band for many years now, I couldn't contain my excitement.

The opening track of the album "Amadriada" is extremely reminiscent of their earlier releases (ala the "Kohti Yhdeksän Nousua" era). Starting off with the fast drums and chord progression before engulfing you with Spellgoth's unique vocals. At around the 3 minute mark the tempo slows down completely and gets slightly more melodic. You can feel the raw passion in the vocals, it's almost animalistic passion.

Two songs later comes the anthem that is "Nekromantica". Beginning with some slow tempo guitar work, you can just imagine this song being used in the middle of a Black Mass. The riff that gets introduced at around the 1:30 mark is catchy as Hell. The rest of the guitar work on this track seems to be a tasteful variation of that riff, which works extremely well with the contrast of Spellgoth's vocals.

The stand out song of the album has to be "Sodan Roihu", with an eerie drum pounding intro, it is immensely different to all the other songs on the album. Every instrument coincides with each other perfectly on this track. If you're not used to raw, unadulterated Black Metal, this song is a little easier on the ears than the rest of the album.

The following song "Hurmos" is almost like a heavier version of its previous song. With, yet another, solid, eerie drum intro before breaking into the classic Black Metal chord progression. For me, when I heard this song, I instantly imagined HORNA playing it live with their outlandish stage presence, and I got goose bumps.

This entire album just solidifies the fact that Black Metal will never die. It is one of the rare instances where material can be rinsed and recycled but it never gets old and still manages to sound different. This is Black Metal in its true form (just with a little better production). There is not one song on this album that will make you want to skip to the next track or make you want to pause for a minute. "Hengen Tulet" brings us on a time travel journey to the roots of Black Metal , sucking us in and spitting us back out.