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Himsa - Courting Tragedy and Disaster

Rating

RIYL

Shadow’s Fall
Lamb of God
Avenged Sevenfold
God Forbid

Label

Prosthetic Records

Tracklist

1. Dominion
2. Rain to the Sound of Panic
3. A Girl in Glass
4. Kiss or Kill
5. Jacob Shock
6. Cherum
7. It's Nights Like This That Keep Us Alive
8. Loveless and Goodbye
9. Scars in the Landscape
10. Sense of Passings
11. When Midnight Breaks

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Recent Ratings
Rick Gebhardt

After reviewing Nervous Cop and Adema in the same day, I was beginning to get a little worried about this batch of reviews. I wondered if I was going to find anything worthwhile. Thank the higher powers, wherever they reside, for Himsa put some faith back in my heart. Music is not over!

Just when I thought Avenged Sevenfold and Shadow’s Fall were bringing back old school metal riffs paired with catchy choruses, I got hit in the face with Himsa. They’re faster, cleaner, and more brutal than the aforementioned bands, and their new CD “Courting Tragedy and Disaster” is an unrelenting piece of work.

Combining old school riffage with thundering drums, and hardcore vocals is what Himsa do best. “Dominion” proves the metal juggernauts are here to up the standard for any metalcore band soon to follow. In this song alone, the elements of thrash and guitar solos are a reminder that pushing extremes and excessiveness is what music is all about.

If you make it through “Dominion” relatively unscathed you’ll want to push forward to “Rain to the Sound of Panic” and “Scars in the Landscape” to satisfy more of your guitar heavy urges. The guitars alone in Himsa are enough to turn heads, but coupled with unrelenting drumming that sounds like the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse galloping in unison, makes songs like “Scars in the Landscapes” and “A Girl in Glass” penetrate to the very core of your bones. Guitar antics and metal prowess aside, Himsa also employs some subtle technicalities that might go unappreciated to the average meathead.

While I could’ve hoped for some actual singing during some great bridges and verses, the full frontal vocal assault is something that sets Himsa aside from their metal-core siblings. By denying us the very pleasure of some sing-songy chorus, it forces us to digest some of the roughest cuts I’ve heard since…never.

I’m quite curious to see how they perform live though. The lightning fast drums and guitar licks seem like they would provide a challenge to pull off live, I have no doubts though. Afterall, why would you ever want to put out something you couldn’t make sense of in a live setting. Throw out your Slayer and Testament CD’s, Himsa has arrived.

-Trevor Erb