Horisont party like it’s 1975 on joyous new album Sudden Death

Retro-rock linchpins Horisont channel 70s soft rock and classic prog on glorious new album Sudden Death

(Image: © Nuclear Blast)

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Horisont have been living in the past pretty devotedly for more than a decade, but this sixth album is arguably the first to contain no evidence that the last 40 years ever happened. As soon as the opening jaunty piano and falsetto harmonies of Revolution make you check you’ve not accidentally pressed play on an ELO album, Sudden Death marks a perfect storm of earnest conviction and eccentric creative energy across each of its 52 spookily time-warped minutes. Each song turns up different avenues of 70s inspiration, from Camel-ish prog synths and Wishbone Ash-flavoured sprightly twin guitar harmonies to soul strings and sax, new wave sass and country twangs, all deployed with levels of upbeat joy, full- throttle zeal and obsessive charm that even Horisont have never hit before.


Chris Chantler

Chris has been writing about heavy metal since 2000, specialising in true/cult/epic/power/trad/NWOBHM and doom metal at now-defunct extreme music magazine Terrorizer. Since joining the Metal Hammer famileh in 2010 he developed a parallel career in kids' TV, winning a Writer's Guild of Great Britain Award for BBC1 series Little Howard's Big Question as well as writing episodes of Danger Mouse, Horrible Histories, Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed and The Furchester Hotel. His hobbies include drumming (slowly), exploring ancient woodland and watching ancient sitcoms.