TENHORNEDBEAST

"The Sacred Truth"

Cold Spring - 2007

CD

TenHornedBeast is the new solo project of Christopher Walton, one half of British cult dark ambient duo ENDVRA. Packaged in a gloomy and rather disturbing digipack, "The Sacred Truth" marks the debut of this new presence in the ritual and esoteric underground. Five long pieces lead the listener into a journey through caves, hidden temples, and abandoned chapels, where forgotten ceremonies and sacrifices are being celebrated. References could be found in the very early BDN ("Pain In Progress"), Archon Satani or Mz. 412, more generally in the Norse death industrial school of the 90s'.

The music created by TenHornedBeast can still be filed under dark ambient, but, in comparison to ENDVRA, it shows clear industrial features, using strata of noises and drones to evoke hellish creatures and unseen entities. All five tracks are quite similar, making the CD sound almost like a whole, gigantic ritual composition. There are, however, few elements added here and there to differentiate, like the slow and distorted violas playing on "Strength Through Fear", the haunting, hammering beats that appear towards the end of "In The Teeth Of The Wolf", or, even more, the distant and reverberated gongs at the beginning of final "Christus Vox".

Although undoubtedly evocative and unsettling, TenHornedBeast's debut album suffers from a certain amount of monotony, failing to catch the listener's attention for its whole running time and leave that sweet, satisfying taste in his ears once the listening is over. Apart from few effective passages, the whole CD sounds heavy and hypnotic, but never truly exciting. It will probably appeal only to the hardcore fan of extreme dark ambient, noise and ritual sounds.

- Simon V.

Website: http://www.coldspring.co.uk

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tenhornedbeast