28. November 2013
Review: Horisont – Time Warriors
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Horisont – ‘Time Warriors’
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By Alle Royale
Horisont, hard rock band from Sweden, are time warriors in name and fact; flying high like red barons of retro rock on the wings of a third album that sounds nothing less than incendiary, like a black rain of sonic thunders. “Time Warriors” could be what Graveyard’s majestic “Helsingen Blues” has been some years ago, but better: the affirmation of how young bands can still deliver high quality rock, on the same standards of the greatest bands of the past decades. If it’s retro, or just an ongoing and never ending tale of musical rebellion, is for you to tell; I’ve already chose my side, and I think that rock n’ roll is still a young, wild animal and Jimi Hendrix was just yesterday.
Horisont must think the same, and, differently from an ever increasing army of retro bands, they serve us a golden plate of potential instant classics, not another dose of Led Zep mannerisms and Sabbath riffs. Personality seems the rallying cry for the Swedes, and it shines also in the twin lead guitars work, finally not a mere exercise in copying Thin Lizzy ideas, but the most “dynamic duo” offering since Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery, playing with feel, musicality and technical proficiency, always keeping in sight the harmonic manoeuvres of the songs.
I won’t hide the fact that “Writing On The Wall” is, hands down, the best single I’ve heard in ages; when I saw the accompanying video, a piece of wicked art in its own self, I felt like the demons of rock n’ roll came for giving me back my childhood, when, in middle eighties, every damn week there was some new fantastic single to rave about. Thank you Horisont for giving me back the best years of my life, and three and a half minutes of galloping, relentless, exhausting rock freedom.
Sure, there are echoes of Deep Purple, Fireball era, in their furious but melodic attack, and the vocals of singer Axel, are almost high pitched as Geddy Lee’s were in the seventies, even if more intense and passionate; but their singular strength is the natural ability of fusing melodic accessibility to proto-prog sound choreographies that transform their hard rock monuments into timeless gems. The album title itself , Time Warriors, could suggest how this five piece from Gothenburg are on their quest to cross back and forth the barriers of time, acting like messengers supreme; the band chosen to melt into one all the best pieces of different eras, as a precious gift for this generation, from the gods of rock n’ roll.
I enjoyed the first song so much that I listened to them all. Thanks Alle and GTC!
Thanks Susan!