HORNA – Austin, Texas, U.S.A. 2019

HORNA – Texas Mist – Austin, Texas, April 2, 2019.

Finnish black metal hordes, HORNA would not be denied playing Austin, Texas. Although Antifa pressured the original host of the show, Come and Take It Live!, HORNA’s fans made sure the show went on. Texas Mist made sure the band would not be silenced in the same way Antifa and a website not worth mentioning silenced TAAKE, who was forced to cancel their recent U.S. tour. The anti-fascist group also protested a MARDUK show at Come and Take It. White Swan in Houston canceled their show but found a suitable replacement. Houston is a three-plus-hour drive from Georgetown, but I was willing to do it to fight for black metal and artistic expression, but thanks to Mist owner Jim Ostrander, my drive was condensed to a mere half-hour.

A variety of factors led to a modest sized crowd in the small club. Confusion of the show’s status surely was a factor, as was it being on a weekday. Texas Mist can be a chore to locate due to its distance from downtown and construction detours. The club does, however, list directions. The benefits of the club are worth the hassle. The sound is always good and the lights are descent. An outdoor patio is a great place to socialize and party and sometimes even watch a band. Drinks are cheap and the staff is a bunch of cool metal heads and musicians. Also, being distanced from downtown means less traffic (Austin traffic is a nightmare) and no parking fees. For these reasons it’s become my favorite haunt in Austin.

Although the Mist mostly features local talent, they have hosted major artist such as EYEHATEGOD, RAVEN, JAMES RIVERA and FASTER PUSSYCAT. Some of Austin and San Antonio’s finest were on hand tonight. Openers, TRIACANTHOS were stylistically closest to HORNA. Candles around ram’s horns decorate the front of the drums lent atmosphere to the band’s set. The group was a power trio, just a guitarist, vocalist and drummer. Black metal is often about sharpened guitar tones, so their having no bassist didn’t detract from the music much. This was my first exposure to the band. I’m going to assume they’re a new group. It was nice to see another local band of this ilk in an area starving for black metal.

Where black metal groups are rare, death metal groups are in abundance throughout Texas. EMBODIMENT OF SUFFERING is a newer group, but contains TXDM veteran musicians. I wrote a show review about vocalist/singer Vile Kyle and drummer Rene Martinez in their respective bands SELF INDUCED PAIN and DISFIGURED twelve years ago on Metalcentre.com. Kyle played drums in that band. Now he plays chopping riffs, twisted harmonies and fast guitar scales. Like the previous act, EMBODIMENT OF SUFFERING is a three-piece complete with Meryl Fry on bass. Watching Martinez’s speed, blasts, timing and creativity behind the kit shows why he’s one of the elite drummers in the extreme Texas metal scene. Fry and Martinez were tight and Fry’s bass is audible (why bury the bass). Between songs, Vile Kyle introduced song topics such as serial killer Edmund Kemper, wiping out the Baby Boomer generation, disdain for religion and a true, local tale of murder. Kyle said he wanted to play an apt Beherit cover, but the band played their usual DYING FETUS cover, which always riles up Texas crowds.

“Somebody get that band a beer!,” should have been BLACK JACKAL’s slogan. The San Antonio group played black metal, but it was the kind that makes one want to drink and then smash the bottle over a poser’s head. Each member has a fitting name such as Mike Dirty, Devin Nerd and the best one yet, Street Walkin’ Black Cheetah. They resembled post-apocalyptic black metal punks in sound and appearance. Their sound incorporates aspects of d-beat punk, speed metal, thrash metal and first wave black metal. With spikes, chains, aviator sun glasses and punk rock vests the band were equipped to praise satanic metal gods of old like early versions of VENOM, SODOM and BATHORY. It makes me wonder if the singer Mike Dirty had a couple of PBR’s stashed inside his jean jacket battle vest. BLACK JACKAL showed strong devotion to black metal opening this show for HORNA and apparently opened their show in Houston.

HORNA presented an imposing stage facade. Part of this was natural due to their large Nordic frames. Part of it was their stage attire—ghastly corpse paint bearing occult symbols, spiked gauntlets, a bone necklace and a “I heart Jesus” t-shirt. Front man, Spellgoth didn’t shy from his opposition to Antifa, wearing a shirt that said, “Satanic Resistance Crush Antifa.” There were no seig heils, Swastika’s or panzer division tanks on stage or in the crowd. A wide assortment of races attended the show, too, something common throughout the world when it comes to “NSBM” bands. There was plenty of mockery of the whole situation in the crowd, though. Spellgoth introduced songs praising Satan, the pagan gods of antiquity, mass death, plague, destruction and total fucking darkness. He spoke about the cremation of heaven on “White Aura Buried in Ashes,” a song taken from their full-length debut, “Kohti Yhdeksän Nousua.” He prefaced another song by talking about when even the gods die, and praised the black plague that scourged the dark times of the middle ages.

Pagan, Satan, light-encompassing shades were all subject that meshed well with the band’s music. Speed was a key component, which one can expect from many black metal artists, and HORNA set a precedence opening with “Jumalan Koti” (translated to “God’s Home.”). The pace was tremendous, almost overwhelmingly fast from the beginning, but eventually they explored medium, quasi-punk tracks like “Kuoleva Lupaus” and even medieval rhythms, which were vocally realized through guitarist Shatraug’s clean vocals. These moments seemed authentically Finnish, especially considering the phrasing and rhythm of their language.

European black metal tours are still fairly rare in the States. Even the big-name groups make occasional trips across the pond. Even rarer are lesser known bands such as HORNA or any Finnish black metal in general, so people get excited when a band of HORNA’s caliber makes a rare appearance in their city. Social justice warriors in the metal community, and many outside of it, are trying to take away our ability to see these bands we love. They are the modern PMRC, the Christian book burners of decades past. They believe they know what is best for us and think they are gatekeepers of artistic expression. They don’t understand or even listen to black metal.

They’ve tried to silence MARDUK, harassed WATAIN, successfully stopped TAAKE, and barred HORNA from playing several venues. I mentioned these bands to Shatraug after the show and he said, “They are going after the wrong bands.” Texas Mist, their fans and their knowledgeable staff took the chance that Come and Take It Live ! wouldn’t and received no physical protests and I’m unaware of any physical threats. Ostrander expressed reservations about people boycotting his venue, but as a fan told him, those people don’t come here, anyway. Not that any of their other appearances garnered large factions protesters—nor were they a crowd that warranted fear. There was a lot of talk but no action. In the end, Satan laughed and HORNA killed it in Austin (by the looks of it in Houston, too). Stand up for metal. Don’t be fooled by empty-headed self-righteousness. Support underground metal. Support black metal!

View the photo gallery below including a picture of the set list.