Summon In Thunder

 This fall wraps up the year’s cycle with an outstanding run of the last big albums, which will make 2007 go down in the annals as one of those years with the most fruitful metal harvest. North American oddballs Himsa add their piece to the jigsaw of the metal collage, having topped up their altar of musical sacrifice with a new release that backs up the hunch that metalcore, in certain corners of the worldwide fabric, is still healthy and that, at least partly, a cure is still possible. Just a year after Hail Horror, which announced their return to the scene as a cleaned-up, overhauled killing machine of explosive rhythms, guitar riffs and fiery rebellion, with a fresh dose of kerosene in its veins, the next one is already here – Summon In Thunder.

What separates the small from the big? Mostly a healthy dose of work ethic, relentless sacrifice, faith, and more than a full measure of talent. Himsa backed up this trip into the realms of brutal metalcore right from the start. They brought in more than just a star-studded lineup of production bigwigs who know how to combine the right elements into an indestructible compound, tougher than the carbon bonds in a diamond. The production baton was entrusted for the second time to an old acquaintance, Steve Carter, who produced their third-to-last record Courting Tragedy And Disaster, after which the band’s old organic core fell apart. Nothing must be left to chance. That’s the next commandment that has carved Himsa deep into the foundations of the metalcore genre. Vocal perfection is a partly fulfilled condition too: in the final mix it was squeezed out of John Pettibone’s vocal cords by vocal shaman Devin Townsend, known to the wider crowds as the singer of the now-defunct Strapping Young Lad, who this time twiddled the knobs on the vocal side of the mixing desk. John, once an angry kid who couldn’t get anything out of his throat but a hardcore bark, has now pulled off a thoroughly decent growl, proof that his nuts have finally dropped, in all the right places and for good, and started working the proper metal way. If after the wildly melodic intro to the record, after the song ‘Reinventing The Noose’, you got the feeling that HIMSA are leaning at least a little (and in my opinion, glaringly obviously) toward Swedish thrash-core outfit The Haunted and their latest record The Dead Eye, that might be because the legendary producer Tue Madsen contributed to the final mix of the album. Besides The Haunted, he “is to blame” for records by Dark Tranquility and Halford’s latest releases. The logical conclusion would be that the album, at least on that front, is perfect, but they wouldn’t have got anywhere without a clear vision and a quality surplus of musical talent, which Himsa guitarist Sammi Curr undoubtedly has. From the very first chord it’s clear that Curr and Kirby Johnson have woven a compact texture of a guitar wall of sound that toys with the melodic sense of the likes of Arch Enemy, while boasting the crystal-solid butcher’s logic of The Haunted – Cro-Mags – Slayer and modern-day Napalm Death. You can hear countless layers, which make Summon In Thunder a bull’s-eye for all lovers of intense, American-flavored thrash metal, whose main commandments are melody and riffs you can easily remember. Compare that with the last three releases, which were in many ways an indistinguishable mass of inseparable wheezing (partly it makes perfect sense that in 2003 Himsa decided to die off by four fifths, but the healthy remaining fifth managed to generate a more perfect monster than the previous beast…).

This time Himsa have surgically fine-tuned the rhythm changes, which are what make most of the material stick in your memory. Among the more notable surprises on the record is certainly the almost acoustic suspense of granite paving stones smashing into your already badly cracked skull, with a soothing patch called ‘Skinwalkers’. You’ve barely relaxed when Himsa, in their merciless slaughtering manner, kick the last atoms of harmonic om-like calm straight in the crotch and carry on with a wild dance of methodically splitting the cores of In Flames and At The Gates. There’s no absolute winner, since the record goes into your ears and cerebral channels directly and whole, with no snagging. If you need more convincing: ‘Haunter’ hands you, after a big grandiose intro, a second surgically measured blow with a mace straight between the eyes. The guitar duels sound like a tsunami hitting the coast. From the first track to the big finale, the album’s title track, which hammers the last golden nails into the steel cross of all those frustrated souls who still can’t tell their ass from their head. This time Himsa poured the purest heart’s blood and the most sparkling rage into the hellish chalice. They’ve moved from thoughts and waiting to deeds. Summon In Thunder elicits cries of pleasure, and when the record ends, it’s time for another round of auditory self-gratification.

Even if you’re a sworn grim-and-gloomy purist who can’t stomach even the smell of metalcore, never mind the sound, I guarantee you’ll get at least a little excited about this record. Also because the band functions as one inseparable whole and because, instead of averagely rehashing clichés we’ve already heard, they set out to deliver an uncompromising record that sounds like blows of Thor’s hammer on a heavenly anvil. Sparks have turned into flames. The fire has been lit, and the catharsis of this trip through Himsa’s latest release more than just eases the hunger for brutality. Himsa have driven off the last of the nightmares and screamed out a spell of deliverance. Ave Zavetnikum! Summon in Thunder is the winner of this fall. Verdict: big yes.