An interesting album. KOMATSU is from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. They're a mix of Sludge, Stoner and Metal. "A New Horizon" is their third full length release, and it's an album that's best played loud. "I Got Drive" opens with appropriately sludgy, drawn out riffs that hit you in the gut, before moving into a Stoner/Hard rock feel. That's when things get interesting. The vocal presentation and especially the chorus sounds like Modern metal. The good thing for fans of Sludge is the sludgy riffs remain throughout the entire album. Next up is "Prophecy" and wow, this track smokes start to finish. It has great vocals from Mo Truijens on top of the heavy underlying riffs. Great solos, though I'm not confident that I know if it's Truijens or Bodt at any given time.

"10-4" is the third track, and it really didn't impress me very much. It has weird time changes and an overly forced chorus. A chorus of "Copy that, 10-4" over and over. Definitely not a favorite track. "Surfing a Landslide" begins with, guitar effects and sounds of wind. The song has a definite surf music sound, hence the title. But it also a Munsters theme song feel. All in all it seems appropriate. It's a really cool song. It's all instrumental, and one of my favorite tracks. "Love Screams Cruelty" brings back the Sludge with guitar feedback and fairly subdued vocals. It's another strong track, with pounding drums from Joris Lindner. "Komatsu" the band's namesake song, is really pretty riff heavy. The vocals are strong on this track as well, and while not quite, it almost delves into more like growl like presentation.

"Infected" is chock full of memorable good musical hooks, but it also really exposes the album's biggest weakness. The lyrics. Yet, the song makes up for it in the end "Infected" is perhaps my favorite track. "A New Horizon" is the album's title track , and it's one that I'm indecisive on. Which is weird, It's heavy and sludgy in all the right places, but it's another misstep for me lyrically. Nice approach overall, but not the strongest track. "Walk a Mile" relies on distorted guitars and a mellow pace. It has some really nice cool,  laid back solos. The solos almost seem to be going for a Progressive feel, which is a nice inclusion. Yet again, the lyric of the song cause me the most strife. "Try on these shoes, walk a mile." Again and again. Still, it's a good song. "This Ship Has Sailed" maintains the distortion and blatantly heavy riffs. It's a great song to close out what is a fun, mostly entertaining album.

I enjoyed KOMATU's "A New Horizon", and I would definitely recommend giving the album a listen. I'd not heard them previously, and from what I've gathered, "A New Horizon", is a bit of a departure from their previous releases. In recording shorter, less "meandering" songs, they allowed the music to speak loudly. Unfortunately, in doing so they exposed weakness lyrically.