Terror's Horns (2015)

We're now officially up to the year 2015 in our sheltered-in-place, pandemic review of the Natural Snow Buildings discography.  We might actually finish this little project before everyone in the whole world dies of covid-19!

Terror's Horns was released on September 1, 2015 by Ba Da Bing Records, the same label that re-released Night Coercion Into the Company of Witches.  The unusual thing about Terror's Horns is the brevity of the cuts (by NSB standards).  We've become used to hearing drones like the first two cuts of the album, Dawn On A Buck Skin and Saturna's Black Belt, go on for 15, 20, or more minutes - it seems odd, almost jarring, to hear them abruptly close after about three minutes. 

Even the longer tracks, like the 10-minute King in Yellow and 13-minute The Rising Portal, have enough  structure and changes to their composition that they sound like medleys of longer cuts.  The repeated crashing guitar chords in King in Yellow sounds like a quieter version of the same thing that Swans was doing at the time (cf., the intro to Bring the Sun from To Be Kind).  While I never thought I'd be making a comparison between the two bands, now that I think of it, much of Terror's Horns sound like a quieter, slightly slower, and slightly more organic version of mid-teens Swans.

NSB's fondness for horror imagery continues on Terror's Horns, and the artwork and song titles suggest American slasher films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.  This,  along with 2008's Laurie Bird, is probably their most American album.  

Unlike most of the many other NSB recordings, Terror's Horns can actually be purchased, either through Ba Da Bing's website or Amazon or however you purchase music these days.  It's also available for streaming on Spotify and has been uploaded several times to YouTube.

Here's the track list:  

1. Dawn On A Buck Skin (3:21)
2. Saturna's Black Belt (2:52)
3. Twilight Bells, Terror's Horns (4:04)
4. King In Yellow (9:48)
5. People In The Hills (3:33)
6. Sun Tower (4:18)
7. The Rising Portal (12:57)
8. Orion Is Dead (4:02)