A buttplug cruet filled with the Host, handcuffs that ring like sacred bells, and one particularly… unthinkably crusted-over altar cloth introduce us to the latest good-hurting muse from Brooklyn, New York-based black metal trio HORNS & HOOVES who sling their eye-burning jizz upon the nave via cock-headed aspergillum here on their latest EP release, ‘Spectral Voyeurism‘. Enchanted in their own demesne of prong-lifting gall and rectally bleeding from the unholy experiments at hand these fellowes once again seek to root black metal in an alternate timeline, following the old ways along a different path rather than retread the usual old-meets-new ethos. In the process they’ve birthed a spiritual chimaera, a beast of many backs able to roar in multiple resonances at once, one which still speaks to black metal in fundament but relishes in depraved filth and indulges every chance for the odd psychotic break beyond (or away from) the usual USBM idyll.

Horns & Hooves formed back in 2013 by way of two infamous Brooklyn-built fiends Malebolge and Salpsan who’d had a grip of songs to step out with by 2016 or so on a couple of smaller releases ’til they’d expanded to a trio, adding drummer Orobas, and put out their debut LP ‘I Am The Skel Messiah‘ (2022) which I’d reviewed favorably at the time. Their style was somewhere in between first wave (eh, post ’85) thrashing black metal and the forward thinking side of early 90’s USBM drenched in the gunk of their themes and delivered with far more gusto than earlier releases had suggested. If you’ve not heard that album before heading into ‘Spectral Voyeurism‘ you’re missing out on crucial context in terms of what is pretty damned different about this one and what was truly great about the last one.

On that first album it was clear enough that the band not only appreciated the need to grip and squeeze on listeners brains with a big, depraved personae but their music was telling a story with ‘tude, something like The Warriors vs. Jesus as the Toxic Avenger in Brooklyn. That mode still feels singular, contained within the narrative showmanship of that LP as we step into ‘Spectral Voyeurism‘ which… and I know you’re gonna hate how this reads, but there is a slightly proggy, avant-brained eclecticism deployed here and there which is more Zappa-lite does black metal (or, Havohej?) than it is outright ‘old school’ thrashing USBM up front. They’re playing with it, toying with expectations and taunting the listener with a wild touch that goes far beyond mouth noises and sex moans. You’ll get what I mean once you’re elbow deep in this thing and hitting the two 7+ minute songs that bank up at the end.

Are we getting more Profanatica-level jizzlobbing takes on Venom inspired USBM exaggerations, though? From a certain perspective, sure yeah but from the first song/title track, “Spectral Voyeurism”, we find keyboards and guitar synth are used differently here and the whole deal is wilding out, unstuck where they’d left off. Most of the keys are there to accentuate guitar progressions with glowing guidance and the synths provide some estrangement for the odd lead-in here and there (i.e. “Shallow Blue (Hesitation)”) as Horns & Hooves surround the Arabesque progressions and freaked out vocals of the title track with an unsettling shroud of… something to do with papal sexploits and the Devil. Here Malebolge retains the snarling, screeching demeanor of the previous release, carrying his vicious cadence throughout this song yet things will only get more fucked and weirded out from there as the aforementioned final two extended pieces make a horror show of things.

“Waiting For Creation” reminds me of a band like Bulldozer nearby ‘Neurodeliri‘ but working from a mid-90’s blackened-thrash metal perspective, operatic and insufferable in its bloodied-up austerity as any post-‘At War With Satan‘ minded band might be as they focus on speedier riffing and what is ultimately more of a black metal song than a thrash/speed metal mutant. Tough the tone of the more melodic riffcraft here might appear sentimental for a moment it is decidedly dramatic, horrified as an old Sargeist album but coming from a band spiritually closer to say Mortuary Drape. The guitar work on “Dust” otherwise speaks to the more current zeitgeist of USBM, something bat-winged and rambling through its attack as the lead directive of the album frames an almost neoclassic statement as its core progression and gilds it with choirlike keys and punctuative phrases to separate the longer-drawn movements. ‘I Am the Skel Messiah‘ had its more serious moments, and this song will eventually dissolve into snarling speed metal and shrieks in the end, but the first half of this final song begins to feel like Horns & Hooves have found an interesting sweet spot within their old-meets-new take on black metal without any particular Scandinavian inspiration applied.

It counts for something that Horns & Hooves are damned entertaining, or, can manage to be -this- entertaining for the duration of a ~25 minute EP and still feel like they’ve upped the ante, done something questionable under the influence of their possessor. ‘Spectral Voyeurism‘ has riffs and no doubt they’ve put some work into giving these songs some extra froth per the use of keyboards/synth but the big show here continues to be the energy behind it, the freak-out they serve via over the top vocal performances and unpredictably served songs. It definitely has a for sickos, by sickos kinda feel to it overall and that might not be all that rad for tight-asses or self conscious folks but I’d had a great time with this record and I definitely didn’t miss the guts on display. A high recommendation.

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