What will never cease to amaze me when it comes to something like black metal is how malleable the sound is even after all this time. A simple decision is an unassuming category can make all the different for a performance as it really depends on the artists in question to breathe their own personalities and flavors into the mix to make it their own. Some take it to great lengths to provide truly experimental creations that cannot be likened to anything else out there while some take more familiar pathways. Having been six years since their last effort, Horyn had the liberty and freedom to use that time to take their sound positively anywhere. When it came time to put out their first full-length album, Horyn certainly took the path of the more familiar while still leaving more than enough room for their own flavors to take center stage.

We’re always looking for that next big name to come through the mirk of the underground, and that always leads to far too many people overlooking acts that certainly don’t blow our minds away but do their job incredibly well. There’s always something to be said for those that set out to put forth a worthwhile performance and actually deliver on it. Such albums are what the underground is constantly building itself off of with bands like Horyn a prime example of how that’s done with records like “Voices of My Despairing Thoughts” precisely what many of us are looking for. This is black metal that knows precisely what it was always meant to be with themes of suffering and darkness prevalent throughout the whole of the album, but it’s in the execution that Horyn stands out from much of the contemporary rabble even if it is just by a little. Aggressive but always more than willing to put forth tons of bass-driven rhythms for some unexpected melody, “Voices of My Despairing Thoughts” pulls from much of what black metal has always been known for with its raw nature and misanthropic overtones, yet it’s through atmospheric cues and an almost off-putting sense of intoxication that Horyn manages to make their first full-length record an anomaly that one cannot help but become sucked into. There’s a special magic that’s been woven into the very fabric of “Voices of My Despairing Thoughts”, and I can’t deny its potency.

Whatever follows this album, I can only hope that it won’t be another six-year gap like what happened between Horyn’s first EP and this album, but whatever it is that comes next I am very interested to witness. If this is what Horyn is already capable of with its only full-length album then I shudder to think of what else they’re capable of. “Voices of My Despairing Thoughts” should easily scratch the itch that anyone has for authentic black metal that doesn’t hold back but is more than competent at bringing its own flavors to the table for a listen that is as compelling as it is complete.

LISTEN to “Voices of My Despairing Thoughts” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Horyn on Facebook here.