Aenigmata is the recently released second album from German Epic/Trad metal destroyers Darkest Horizon, and it’s quite good. Following up from their warmly received debut, Aenigmata shows a definite maturation for the band, and song-writing that seems to improve as the journey of the album unfolds. If you want a general idea of the sound, think Amon Amarth with slightly more orchestral and folky elements from Christian Mühlbauer (Keys), these splashes of melody with the timbre of the instrumentation give a nice balance to the dark and grinding vocal attack of Aurelius Lie (Vocals). Olli Sattler and Daniel Baum (Guitars) let rip through the whole album, both building dark layers and adding slashes of light of their own, with nice licks and cool solos. The almost nonstop pounding of the rhythm section of Jonas Heinzel (Bass) and Vincent Haas (Drums) giving the necessary deep rumble and enough double kick to stop a ship.
The production is sharp, clean and present, if you like epic and triumphant Metal, you will dig this.
There is only one thing about the album, other people may not even find this a negative, but it is my opinion. As I mentioned before, the songwriting seems to improve over the course of the album. The first few listens through I was thinking: ‘this is good, but that’s all, another trad metal band’ during the first few tracks. Don’t get me wrong, the songs are good, the opening track Omnipotence Paradox stands out and is a great representation of Darkest Horizon’s sound and what you can expect in the forthcoming album. But, the first half of the album seemed to just wash over me, and through my ears, even the chosen single Cryonics, while being a completely solid song, seems to just pass me by. However, when Pandora came in with a simple and effective guitar intro, my ears immediately pricked up, the album captured my full attention and did not let go of its remaining tracks. The haunting, The Spectral Hours yet another stand-out to my ears, a genuinely fantastic song that you will revisit time and again.
Now, it may seem a bit petty to think the first half of Aenigmata is just ok, especially when it is only my opinion (and what do I know?), but the second half shows me that Darkest Horizon can write songs that aren’t just good but GREAT and that is what I want from them for a full album, and this being only their second full-length. I am sure they’re up for the challenge!
Release Year: 2018
Label: self-released
Category: Album
Country: Germany
Reviewed by Jonathan Hurley
