The heavens shall burn when they are gathered: Finnish melodic death metal juggernaut Horizon Ignited are taking things to the next level with “Tides”, a colossal album that will forever change the course of a genre that has become increasingly stagnant in recent years. Founded in Kouvola back in 2017, the southern Finnish brigade has been aiming high since the very beginning. Two albums into their career, Horizon Ignited return with the fiery, dark and passionately heavy anthems of “Tides”, a stunning feat of modern death metal wizardry. It’s all there, the soaring melodies, the abyssic heaviness, the ethereal aura, aiming for a cross between fellow countrymen Insomnium, later Dark Tranquillity and their unique brand of tempestuous modern metal.
Bangers like “Ashes” or “Baptism By Fire” or especially album opener “Beneath The Dark Waters” will quickly rise to become rejuvenating modern classics of a sometimes stale and redundant genre – permeated by a profound sense of loss and longing and steeped in Finnish melancholy. Recorded with Juho Räihä (guitarist for Swallow The Sun) at Inka Studio in Orimattila, the band really came into their own during the process. The album was then mixed and mastered by Chris Clancy (Machine Head, Kataklysm) in the UK. This devilish duo perfected a leviathan of an album trying to come to terms with the insignificance of life – and finding bliss and peace in it. “We are very young and meaningless in the universal scale but by working together and by coming together maybe we can find a purpose in this cosmic void,” the band says. Let this be our new mantra. And “Tides” the soundtrack to this new era.
