(((O))) Review: Terzij de Horde – Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone

“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad”. The infamous words from the monologue of The Network, a film that turns 50 next year, always springs to mind when I feel the need to talk about the current situation of the world. If, like me, you search for a musical outlet for pain, emotion and anger which also aligns with politics of hope and belief then we have just the thing for you from Dutch five piece Terzij de Horde. Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone is a furious, urgent spark of black metal that is here as a beacon for all those looking to process the world outside.

Theoretically it is straightforward to make 43 minutes of fast, furious black metal but to make it engaging is a whole other level of competence and Terzij de Horde (old Dutch for ‘set apart from the horde’) do not falter in the task. Taking influence from grind and hardcore with flavours of dissonant death metal, post-metal and screamo there is a depth to the intensity. The clear indication of this is the vocal delivery, forgoing the black metal screech for a more power driven hardcore vocal approach really rides perfectly on top of the sound the other four musicians create.

Musically the driver behind the pace stems from drummer Richard Japenga into the dual guitar and bass work. Lead single ‘The Shadows Of Prefiguration’ is a great example of this as the drums charge out with the rest keeping pace before volleying off supporting riffs. The guitar harks through various eras of black metal with more than a few hints of the icy and hostile Blashyrkh landscape renowned in Immortal songs, ‘The All-Consuming Work Of The Soul’s Foreclosing’ certainly has flavours of that. It isn’t all one straight road though and ‘Justice Is Not Enough To Leave The House Of Modernity’ shows some of the dissonance of bands like Still and Ulcerate with its contrasting harshness and spatial sounds.

The final ingredient that binds together the urgency of the vocal approach and music is the band’s deep roots in academia and education with the members also being vehemently anti-fascist. On Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone the lyrics of Joost Vervoort “focus on the struggle to find the courage and responsibility to face the overwhelming odds of present day systems that erode the life and the soul of the world”. With all of this packaged together Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone shines as a gather place for the resistance, a point to gather and discover unity.

The other quote that always plays in my head when seeing the state of the world comes from After The Eulogy by Boysetsfire “Where’s your anger? Where’s your fucking rage?” With Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone I now have a modern soundtrack to expel those emotions. I can’t say I find much hope in the music but having those 40 minutes of anger, tempo and battering gives me believe that I am not alone in feelings of powerlessness and disbelief in what is happening. This is exactly what I have been needing and it has a transformative power from start to finish.

This is another outstanding release in a stacked year for Church Road Records, they really do offer the best subscription deal available out there.