Sign In to rate and review
CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Ontological Mysterium was worth every bit of the five-year wait and is undoubtedly a modern death metal classic.
1mo
95
It’s the ever-so-apparent musicianship and obvious close study of metal that seems to allow this foursome to give us nine tracks of brilliance. Even with all the influences you can clearly hear in Ontological Mysterium, it’s hard to say this record is like anything else out there.
1mo
90
Empowering and highly addictive, Horrendous have created once again a record that will undoubtedly populate this year's best of lists like the plague.
1mo
90
None of this should work but it does. Lavish guitars, bile-spewing vocals, time signatures that would make theoretical mathematicians blush; Ontological Mysterium has all that as well as a confidence and brilliance that simply eclipses most other extreme albums.
1mo
90
Ontological Mysterium is a resounding success for this fearless act whose approach to altering their craft leaves plenty of older (ailing) bands with years more of experience sounding tired and irrelevant.
80
Ontological Mysterium is unmistakably Horrendous in sound and vision, yet it bravely pushes boundaries and tinkers with the parameters of their formula, while remaining cohesive and memorable.
1mo
78
The Philadelphia death metal quartet has a blast on its fifth album, veering between styles with uninhibited energy and virtuosic musicianship.
1mo
70
A pretty solid album from Horrendous, even though the band finds mixed results outside of their comfort zone.
After 5 years of cooking, Horrendous are back with another LP, mixing death, prog, heavy and power metal!
This record for sure has this crushing, absolutely unstoppable energy coming with it, thanks to its fast and high guitars, an inrecdible bass which is slapped and shredded in original ways for this subgenre, and also drums that can altern between 8 beats per second and a slow, more emotional beat.
The intro of the album is nice and set the ambience really well for the second song, ... read more
Horrendous back at it again with some more relentless and crushing death metal (with some passages of power metal here and there).
Highlights: The Blaze, βChrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn)β, Aurora Neoterica, Preterition Hymn, Cult of Shaad'oah, Exeg (en) esis, Ontological Mysterium, The Death Knell Ringeth
HYPE! The Blaze is such a good intro and the album goes hard! Not as heavy as something like Idol and is more on the flashy side but I loved this album through and through
I'm so glad I came back to this album after writing it off back in August. It's not perfect, but it's still one of my favourite progressive death metal albums to come out recently.
"Blaze" is a brilliant opener, really sets the mood for the album. Then "Chrysopoeia" is one of the best death metal tracks of the year, hands down. It never becomes dull over it's 7 minutes, and the style changes in both vocal and musical styles shows how good Horrendous are at blending their ... read more
Purchasing Ontological Mysterium from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?
Become a Donor
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement
Track List
| 1 | The Blaze 1:59 | 77 |
| 2 | Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn) 7:15 | 85 |
| 3 | Neon Leviathan 3:29 | 79 |
| 4 | Aurora Neoterica 1:55 | 79 |
| 5 | Preterition Hymn 3:57 | 80 |
| 6 | Cult of Shaad'oah 5:23 | 81 |
| 7 | Exeg (en) esis 3:37 | 76 |
| 8 | Ontological Mysterium 4:43 | 79 |
| 9 | The Death Knell Ringeth 5:17 | 82 |
Total Length: 37 minutes
Please stay on topic. To go off topic, head to the General Chat.
Sign in to comment
Added on: May 24, 2023