'Ten Stars, Ten Horns'

Available from 14 Caldermere, Spennymoor, County Durham DL16 6XT, England.

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T HE first time I heard Chris Walton's self-released album it was as though a new musical chapter had been opened and a fresh portal etched into my consciousness. Even more so, given that ENDURA - which, accompanied by copious amounts of red wine, still retains a regular presence in my household - has been dormant for so very long. Indeed, Stephen Pennick's absence merely seems to have fuelled Chris Walton's own indomitable creativity and his deep love of Metal (which has even been known to surface occasionally in the hallowed hallways of the Death In June egroup) has now found a suitable outlet.

Somnambulant Corpse, it seems, are not the only ones with an interest in releasing CD-R's in DVD case format. TENHORNED BEAST's unnerving strains lurk behind a two-tone clear/black cover featuring a rural twilight zone of bare trees, above which a ten-star constellation forms the shape of two horns like the arrival of Armageddon in a bleak Northumbrian field. Skeletal branches acknowledge the significance of the new conjugation. Within this dark veneer of visual minimalism, lies a small black envelope neatly inscribed with silver crosses and astrological symbols. If you dare to break the black wax seal, the message inside contains a quote from The Book of Daniel in which the prophetic vision of the beast with ten horns is recounted in all its chilling glory.

The first of these six tracks, 'Frostbite', opens like a kick to the chest with a harsh clatter of drumbeats and a rising pitch that sounds like a pantheon of gods breathing into a giant shell. Gradually, the drums are superseded by the increasing volume as the background forcibly occupies the foreground like a dissonant cuckoo who left his manners back in the egg. It's rhythmic, it's tribal, it's even tinged with a semi-classical edge that seems to create its own sense of structure and being from the variety of tones on offer.

'Crown of Horns', meanwhile, puts the drums to one side and concentrates on pure drone. At least initially. Punctuated with sharp swirls of cacophonoic discord and a booming electric guitar, this track stabs at your eardrums like someone trying to fuck your brain with a gnarled screwdriver. It's TONY IOMMI with his hands amputated, SHEAVY caught in a bout of monotonous irreverence. It's a portent of impending Doom; Doom, of course, being the operative word. Marvellous fayre.

'Lord Heroin (Has Surely Come)' was inspired by a one-legged junkie whose capacity for self-abuse finally led to amputation. More drones, joined this time by sonic feedback, are soon accompanied by a thumping bass that sounds like a spaced-out Geezer Butler using one of the aforementioned TONY IOMMI's hands to play ENDURA's 'Alpha-Wolf'. Perhaps even with Lord Heroin's missing leg. A swathe of light percussion rattles amid the unrelenting torrent of irascible and cantankerous stridor. The Beast of Spennymoor has spoken. 'With the Wings of God Above You', on the other hand, takes the raw and earthy Doom-Gloom theme that much further, as a distorted and incorrible strum is only slightly tempered by a more mellow bass undercurrent. Over twelve minutes in length, this track has everything. The gentle clatter of cymbals, a sustained ambience, flowing riffs and even the kind of longevity and sheer persistence that only a Metal jam can offer. Nine minutes in and it almost evolves into a full-blown rock show and the momentum increases accordingly. Think 'air guitar at a Deutsch Nepal concert' and you're halfway there. A true masterpiece.

The title track, 'Ten Stars Ten Horns', increases in volume like a magnetic fire alarm slowly gravitating towards a metal ear from a distance of one hundred yards. As the pitch reaches its climax it sounds almost human. Like a choir frozen, mid-song, in Durham cathedral. Gentle bursts of intermittent air help to smooth the static atmosphere, as though a church organist was struggling to retain a semblance of life in the repetitious void. The droning soundscape continues to build until it resembles a veritable hornet's nest of complex noise. The final track, 'Shrines I-III', again manages to create a choristic effect, this time adopting a more ambient guise. It's frantic and it's hypnotic. A strong pitch sliced through with sweeping tones of rumbling conjecture and low vibrations. But there is a hint of violence in the air, too. Like a cataclysmic barrage of electric vitriol, everything that came before seems to take shape in this one piece. It's a manifestation of the prophecy.

Daniel's vision made real. The double-sided coin of Doom finally makes known its purpose in the world with a gruesome zest for the penultimately horrific. A whole chapter of biblical revelation is encapsulated in twenty minutes of utter terror. I can't quite convey the awesome power contained in this track, it's a testimony to the sheer lucidity of Chris Walton's imagination. And the balance is perfect. Busy it may be, but there is none of the overcrowding that one often finds when various threads come together at the close of an album. In this respect, of course, it manages to successfully achieve the synergy and the synchronisation that it is looking for. Potential record labels take note. This album deserves far more recognition and, I believe, by combining Ambience and Doom to such an extent TENHORNEDBEAST has managed to achieve something exciting, unique and exhilarating.