Much like Morbus Chron or Tribulation, Horrendous has taken a classic sound and injected it with a far more creative and unorthodox elements. The guitar tone is still rooted in the mid range buzz, and the vocals are still a Van Drunen-ish howl (with a few blacker rasps here and there), but quite simply, Horrendous’s sound can be described as Stockholm death metal (Entombed/Grave/Dismember) mixed with Rush or to these ears, Switzerland’s’ seminal  Coroner.

This isn’t an immediate album, even less so than Ecdysis, which opened with the amazing “The Stranger”, as Anareta, like its ancient/cosmic themes,  is more developed, patient and in depth listen. Opener “The Nihilist”, tries to mimic “The Stranger”, but its not until second monster track “Ozymandias” where the album arrives for real. But still, don’t come looking into Anareta for rollicking  d beat rumbles or catchy mid range canters. The songs are convoluted, twisted and swirling, yet patient, and at times surprisingly introspective, with lots of solos and softer palette’s. It is death metal shot through a progressive rock prism, and its different bare elements laid bare, parsed out and crystal clear. Just listen to instrumental “Siderea”.

“Polaris” channels Pestilence through a jittery, spacey, shimmery ambiance, but the album peaks with “Acolytes”,  a more direct death metal song with much more of a classic Stockholm gait and a really nice, restrained close out. “Sum of All Our Failures” starts with delicate acoustics, before a sudden, blistering explosion of death metal, resulting in the album’s most pure death metal track. That all being said, by around track 7, “Stillborn Gods”,  and slow burning closer “The Solipsist (Mirrors Gaze)” my attention is waning a bit, and I start to think the album maybe was a bit rushed, being a mere year on the button after  Ecdysis.

Still, while personally, this isn’t quite as good as Ecdysis, but it’s close, and clearly one of the better albums of the year from a label that seems to poop better albums of the year out effortlessly.

It’s ironic that Ecdysis is the biological term for a insect shedding its exoskeleton, as Horrendous have themselves morphed and evolved. Nothing drastic mind you, but they have emerged from the Stockholm retro revival with a more progressive and ambitions but still familiar take on a classic sound. This isn’t a Tribulation or Morbus Chron like evolution, but a more subtle and ambitious take on the tone and delivery. It’s still got that gorgeous hm-2 guitar tone and Martin Van Drunen styled rasps but musically these guys are adding delicate touches to the sound similar to what Seance did with their debut, Forever Laid to Rest back in 1992 and Cemetary did with Godless Beauty in 1993. It’s more forward thinking, bold and refreshes a tried and tested sound, but still instantly recognizable in its primary influence.

The aforementioned opener sets the bar pretty fucking high, but the rest of the album holds up as the band allows the genre more room and space with some gorgeous Fleurety-ish bass work that really stands out, even amid the mid range buzz of the guitars. The band perfectly renders some good old fashioned romps as heard on the likes of “Weeping Relic” or doom tinged “Heaven’s Deceit”, but it’s when the band expands its creative wings a little where the album becomes much more striking. The twisty “Resonator”, more complex, Liers in Wait styled “Monarch” or the album’s second best track, “Nepenthe” deliver memorable but clever time changes and shifts under the general guise of Left Hand Path/Ever Flowing stream-ness, but full of invigorating little touches. Even the acoustic interlude “The Vermillion” has a air of progressiveness about it.

The only misstep is the short instrumental “When the Walls Fell”, where the band’s ambition falls a bit flat being almost a classic rock sounding track that I initially thought was a Accept or Judas Priest cover. Luckily, the more menacing lurch of “Pavor Nocturnus” gets the album back on track before stunning closer “Titan” ends the album with a glorious but somber dirge (including some very well used, hymnal clean vocals), showing progression and ambitious songwriting does not have to be about 10 minute songs or lengthy intros. Folks, that is how you start and end an album.

And that is also how you deliver one of the best albums of the year.