“Could it be that post-hardcore still has a beating heart?” a question which ‘five horizons’, the debut album of Swiss band Nevborn, endeavours to answer. It seems, perhaps, a touch arrogant of the band to assume that with their debut they’ll singlehandedly return humanity to a genre that has become increasingly shorn of originality, but then without such burning ambition, few great records would ever be made. Certainly ‘five horizons’ is a very good album. Ambitious, eclectic and frighteningly well played, the six years of effort put into making this fifty-minute beast by founder member Matthieu Hinderer was surely worth it.
The album opens with the brief intro track ‘sending a message’, a song which flits between beautiful piano and huge swathes of fuzz-laden guitar. The album then kicks into gear with ‘from the edge of the universe’, a seven minute piece that segues from piano melody to brutal guitars and heartfelt screams. A mid-tempo track, Nevborn give themselves the space to shift from full-blooded assault to hypnotic post-rock workouts reminiscent of Cult of Luna, whilst keeping the whole sounding fluid and cohesive. It’s exciting and surprisingly affecting music; music which packs not only a visceral, but also an emotional punch and the answer as to whether post-hardcore still has a beating heart must surely be a resounding ‘yes!!!’ on this evidence. Nevborn’s skill at mixing breath-taking passages of ethereal beauty with huge, hulking riffs continues unabated on ‘for seven days’, an extended ten minute workout that brings to mind the likes of Cave In and Botch with its angular guitars and echoing leads. Throughout Nicolas Huguenin proves himself to be a masterful drummer whilst Matthieu and Mathieu (yep – two of them!) build wonderful webs of guitar around one another only for the whole band to explode into violence just as the listener gets lost in a reverie. ‘Beyond the five horizons’ builds slowly only to explode into blistering life with some of the album’s heaviest material. Like slow moving magma, obliterating everything in its path, Nevborn are not interested in competing with those who favour speed as a weapon, their weight comes from slow, soul-crushing inevitability, and the band in full flight prove to be a relentless and all-encompassing affair. In contrast the track also contains some of the album’s most beautiful passages and the juxtaposition between brutal riffs and elegant lead is what gives the album its power.
‘Between the skies’ reverses the trend and opens with heavy drums contrasted with gentle, post-rock guitars. The track builds slowly, taking in the likes of Red Sparrowes and Neurosis before finally reaching combustion point and exploding into a frenzied attack on the listener, all harrowing screams and wailing leads. Referencing Shelley, the final two tracks form one continuous epic. The prologue appears in the form of the short ‘for the king of kings’ whilst the main body is the ten minute behemoth ‘Ozymandias’. It’s a remarkable closing piece that is perfectly suited to its literary subject matter as the band unleash what is arguably the most intelligent and powerful piece on the album. Opening with skittering electronics and piano, ‘for the king of kings’ has a melancholy feel befitting of encountering the half-buried statue of a once-highly regarded figure whilst ‘Ozymandias’ itself succeeds in being immensely powerful and even regal in it demeanour. If you wish to experience the impressive skills of Nevborn, this is the place to start as it is a simply stunning mix of light and shade, highlighting the immense talent and ambition that lies at the heart of the band.
Overall Nevborn do a fantastic job of carving their own niche out of a somewhat populous genre. The music here is frighteningly well played, absolutely devastating when it needs to be and yet powered by a very human heart. On almost every track the raging torrent of molten riffs gives way to something more affecting and there’s no question that the priority in the Nevborn camp is on song-writing first, rather than on underscoring technical ability. It took a couple of listens to really appreciate just how good ‘Five horizions’ actually is, and it is an album that absolutely repays repeated listens.
