Horrorwish – Tales From Death

Released on Halloween 2023, Tales From Death is latest album by Belgium one-man project going under the moniker of Horrorwish. It comes as a follow-up to his 2020 debut album No Place To Hide. The whole Horrorwish project was created a year earlier, in 2019, by musician/producer Gio Smet, who has previously worked with some big names and had a finger in various bands and projects. His intention from the beginning of the horror metal project was to combine his passion for horror tales with intriguing metal music.

Meanwhile let me beging another place; where horror has often been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for metal musicians since the genre pioneers like Black Sabbath released their debut. Countless bands derive their band name from some kind of horror references. This is also the case with Horrorwish.

Tales From Death features 10 songs based on true horror stories, explained in detail on the promo sheet that comes with this promo. Anyone who has a little knowledge of books or films will easily be able to place the sung stories. Alone reading these disturbing tales made me felt uncomfortable and when listening to the music, it even felt creepier/scarier with each new spin. Like the case was with its predecessor, on the new album, again all instruments and vocals were performed by Gio. The only help he received this time were the lyrics, which were written together with his love, Linda Roosens.

Overall, the album sounds creepy and mysterious, and even more so if you pay close attention to the lyrics. In other words; musically this concept is quite diverse and well-thouht through. The only minor coin is the predictability of some parts of each of the songs. They’re following same pattern, with some sides of the each individual song is more highlighted.

Tales From Death is one of the rare releases where one can hear a monstrous bass having a central role, delivering tempo changes while laying foundation for other instruments and esp. diverse, raw and uncut striking vocals. The guitars are dark and fat, and when paired with the above mentioned monstrous bass, it results in a massive and horrifying tunes that we can hear on Tales From Death. Of course one can still hear some grisly sounds, predominantly dark and different voices.

I enjoyed the production; a well-balanced one where all the instruments and lyrical content are creating together this chilling yet beautiful and dark atmosphere with again predictable, but still quite fitting and spicy soundscapes with no unnecessary extra features. The artwork is beautiful and well thought out: Mr. Death reading the true stories from the book of souls on the graves of the victims.

The intention with this album was obviously not to change the world by adding something innovative nor groundbreaking, but this fact alone doesn’t spoil the entertainment or the overall musical quality of the material.

Lastly; horror fans should dig deeper into that aspect of the songs, but I also think that metal fans can find some interesting stuff on Tales From Death. For additional information on this sophomore release by Horrorwish/Gio Smet go to https://horrorwish.bandcamp.com/