Review by Felix on July 9, 2019.

Sometimes I think that everything was better in the old days, but this is nostalgic nonsense. Even the golden eighties were full of catastrophes. Chernobyl, the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, earthquakes in Iran... the list is endless - and some cynics say that the list is not complete without the release of Break the Silence. Quite frankly, I agree.

Executioner's vinyl is the grotesque caricature of a metal album. The song-writing is as terrible as a plane crash. The production sounds thin, atypically holey and miserable. I do not know the motivation behind the recordings, but I am almost sure the "musicians" wanted to make an attempt on the global metal scene. They tried to poison our tastes with this meaningless, uninspired and totally useless track. I do not intend to destroy the reputation of my most favourite sub-genre, that's the reason why I do not write every letter of the word thr**h. It would be terrible to read such a fantastic word in a review for this pile of shit, because there exists absolutely no link between the here presented songs and the classics you are thinking about when it comes to thr**h. However, Executioner wanted to be a thr**h band, but they were just crummy wannabes. Usually, dudes of this kind do not even get the permission to be part of the road crew. Here are the painful details.

The choruses are absolute crap. No tinge of a melody, no memorable lines, nothing. I admit that "Your Life Is Over" sounds a little bit better than the other flops, but even this track does not reach a fairly good level. Okay, I further admit that the solos are really solos. What I mean is that they have nothing to do with the rest of the so-called songs. They are performed without any connections to the other parts. However, the worst is yet to come. Sometimes the "artists" want to show that they can play really fast. That's the point where the drummer decides to torture his snare drum as much as he can. It's that kind of velocity which is performed only for the sake of velocity. By the way, the rattling snare is one reason why the mix sucks. The guitars also fail, they are neither heavy nor massive. Believe me, it's a drama and the totally expressionless vocals do not add any value to the songs as well. But the main problem, no doubt about it, are the songs themselves. They are performed without any emotions, they do not possess any kind of surprising twists and turns and to call them simple is almost a euphemism. The meticulous design of the fabulous artwork reflects the accurate elaboration of the ten anti-songs. I never worshipped the God of complexity, but rather straight tunes need at least a good main riff. Too bad that Executioner ignore this iron law completely.

With publications like this one, New Renaissance Records demonstrated impressively that they were interested in committing commercial suicide. Crude gangs like Executioner deserved a kick in the ass, a glass of warm milk or some private lessons, but there is one thing that they broke the silence for the last time. It remained their farewell album. Hey dudes, do me a favor and did not deserve: a record deal. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Break the Silence do not come back. No renaissance instead of New Renaissance. We do not want to face the next catastrophe.

Rating: 0.3 out of 10

Review by Felix on July 9, 2019.

Sometimes I think that everything was better in the old days, but this is nostalgic nonsense. Even the golden eighties were full of catastrophes. Chernobyl, the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, earthquakes in Iran... the list is endless - and some cynics say that the list is not complete without the release of Break the Silence. Quite frankly, I agree.

Executioner's vinyl is the grotesque caricature of a metal album. The song-writing is as terrible as a plane crash. The production sounds thin, atypically holey and miserable. I do not know the motivation behind the recordings, but I am almost sure the "musicians" wanted to make an attempt on the global metal scene. They tried to poison our tastes with this meaningless, uninspired and totally useless track. I do not intend to destroy the reputation of my most favourite sub-genre, that's the reason why I do not write every letter of the word thr**h. It would be terrible to read such a fantastic word in a review for this pile of shit, because there exists absolutely no link between the here presented songs and the classics you are thinking about when it comes to thr**h. However, Executioner wanted to be a thr**h band, but they were just crummy wannabes. Usually, dudes of this kind do not even get the permission to be part of the road crew. Here are the painful details.

The choruses are absolute crap. No tinge of a melody, no memorable lines, nothing. I admit that "Your Life Is Over" sounds a little bit better than the other flops, but even this track does not reach a fairly good level. Okay, I further admit that the solos are really solos. What I mean is that they have nothing to do with the rest of the so-called songs. They are performed without any connections to the other parts. However, the worst is yet to come. Sometimes the "artists" want to show that they can play really fast. That's the point where the drummer decides to torture his snare drum as much as he can. It's that kind of velocity which is performed only for the sake of velocity. By the way, the rattling snare is one reason why the mix sucks. The guitars also fail, they are neither heavy nor massive. Believe me, it's a drama and the totally expressionless vocals do not add any value to the songs as well. But the main problem, no doubt about it, are the songs themselves. They are performed without any emotions, they do not possess any kind of surprising twists and turns and to call them simple is almost a euphemism. The meticulous design of the fabulous artwork reflects the accurate elaboration of the ten anti-songs. I never worshipped the God of complexity, but rather straight tunes need at least a good main riff. Too bad that Executioner ignore this iron law completely.

With publications like this one, New Renaissance Records demonstrated impressively that they were interested in committing commercial suicide. Crude gangs like Executioner deserved a kick in the ass, a glass of warm milk or some private lessons, but there is one thing that they broke the silence for the last time. It remained their farewell album. Hey dudes, do me a favor and did not deserve: a record deal. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Break the Silence do not come back. No renaissance instead of New Renaissance. We do not want to face the next catastrophe.

Rating: 0.3 out of 10

Review by Tomek on December 3, 2013.

Coincidence is a funny thing. I was just talking to someone about bands from France and how their metal scene seems to be coming around again. We talked about melodic death, black metal or progressive death bands, about how well they sound and how little they’re known, and then Hord from France and their The Book Of Eliot happens to me. Haven’t heard anything from there in a while and after listening few times I can’t put them solidly in any of those categories, but there are smatterings of those in the mix, also with some groove, some industrial and even death.

It seems like quite a feat to combine so many influences into one, but Hord has it figured it out for the most part. Guitar work is solid and rarely ceases to pack a punch coming down with relentless chugs or beautiful passages and tons of unique themes. There are parts of some songs that seem a little redundant but they disappear quickly, followed by change of rhythm or distinctive melody. Rumble of the bass, ever-changing vocals and use of samples pulls you in and captivates you in a constant flow of intriguing musical ideas. Tempo changes, moments of extreme metal going into calm atmospheric passages, vocals that go from clean singing, to growl, to screaming, to occasional moments of just speaking, all those elements create musical images that are hard to forget. Everything works just right for Hord, but there is one idea that I would like them to erase. It would be vocals - when growling goes into monotonous metalcore scream territory. It messes up the harmony for me and makes me lose focus. Fortunately this is just a minor lapse.

I very much like the flow of the album and character of it. It starts with slow atmospheric passage and then turns into harsh and mechanical beating to eventually combine all those elements into one. It happens all throughout the album and to me it enhances the experience quite tremendously. The idea of turning hard and punishing thumping into a melodic landscape or go with both for a moment and then split into something completely different is not new by any means, but to do it right is the measure of success. Hord are very successful in doing that and I very much enjoyed what they offered.

The Book Of Eliot is a concept album. It is a poetical, visual and musical journey through the ashes of humanity, following the life and fall of the last human on earth through his personal diary. Looking at the album artwork, reading the lyrics and listening to the album I can say that music accompanies it beautifully. I recommend this one to everybody with a gist of imagination, taste for adventure and an open mind. Fans of Mnemic, Devin Townsend, Raunchy, Sybreed should not miss that one.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 7.5

Rating: 7.9 out of 10