01.Odyssey
02.Break The Limit
03.Blind Leder Blind
04.Bad News
05.Light My Way
06.The Night Stalker
07.Flying
08.Back On The Streets
09.Beyond The Sun
10.Red Light
11.Städer Brinner
12.Timmarna
Axel (Vocals)
Charles (Guitar)
Tom (Guitar)
Magnus (Bass)
Pontus (Drums)
From Sweden, formed in 2006.
Their sound that harks back to the dawn of the 70s, when a new clutch of heads decided it was time to harsh the 60s hippies’ mellow and paint it black; those years when the twin spirit of hard rock and prog rose to redefine sound.
In their earlier years Horisont looked and sounded like the last guys standing at the world’s wildest and darkest party; these are the tight bro’s who laced the punch, torched the dance-floor and rode off into the night on their roaring hogs in a puff of green smoke. “Put the five soldiers of Horisont in a time machine 50 years ahead of time and we would still rock the silver socks of any future man, woman or robot,” frontman Axel once declared.
This quintet’s rock trip might be retro but their songwriting is timeless; a good melody lives forever and Horisont have songs in abundance. New album Odyssey is exactly as its title suggests: an epic journey into the known. A sonic trip. A mighty voyage of sound. You could even call their fourth full release a concept album - although they themselves prefer “space saga”. Either way it’s a brave band who open their album with a ten minute-long track, yet on the album’s title track Horisont dive straight into the deep end, delivering space-rock with all the dexterity and deftness of the very best prog rock’s finest, such as early Yes or Kansas.
In the promo pictures i was sent i noticed that their was something weird about their eyes, and then i remembered that i had seen the same thing on the Sharks album 'Jab it in your eye' from 1974.
So start an album with a ten minute retro sounding epic? Yep 'Odyssey' is pure nostalgia they re create a typical mid 70's american/canadian prog sound, think of Kansas and Neil Merryweather via Starcastle and if you dont know who i am talking about then i doubt this album will be for you.
Brilliant timing changes, nice keyboard work, epic guitarwork and soaring vocals.
'Break The Limit' this really reminds me of Yes, intricate bass playing over tight rhythms and another soaring vocal performance.
Sticking to a more mainstream rock sound with 'Blind leder Blind' the second half of which turns into a very laid back and melodic almost country rock ballad.
'Bad News' and 'Light My Way' are more upbeat heavy rock songs, again nice guitarwork and production and perhaps i should say re-production of the classic 70's rock sound.
Cant belive they stuck a ballad on this album, but then i suppose many bands did back in the old days, that said 'The Night Stalker' is well done, just not really a ballad kinda guy.
Great spanish guitar intro to 'Flying', perhaps not surprising that it has more than a hint of early period uk rock band UFO about it.
Sorry if this review is lacking in lots of things to say about the band, its just each track just takes you back to remembering other bands from the great days of rock, so with that said 'Back On The Streets' could be Lynyrd Skynyrds style of southern rock, even the dual guitar sound.
'Beyond The Sun' has that space rock feel even though there is no twirling synths on offer.
'Städer Brinner' may be the nearest song so far to have an original sound about it, even though you can detect the obvious influences, this one has a more up to date sounding production and construction its a shame that the final song does not carry this idea onwards, instead it returns to the 70's.
So yes its retro, but its so well done, a band who clearly understand their music and there are not too many of those around these days.
Rating 10/10
For fans of: Saturn, UFO, Rush, Kansas, Pyogenesis, Lucifer, Witchcraft
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