Reviews:

From Invisible Oranges: (by Cosmo Lee)

  TenHornedBeast is the UK's Christopher Walton, who reshapes an interest in doom metal into something much less formatted. Evidently, earlier work leaned towards guitar, bass, and drums. Now, however, TenHornedBeast exemplifies a world where black metal, doom metal, drone, and noise aren't loci but merely reference points shading into each other.

  "Dark ambient" best describes The Sacred Truth (Cold Spring, 2007). The term is inadequate, though, as the record is full of shade, if not necessarily light. It's a rich collage of sounds and sources - harnessed feedback, screaming synthetic winds, found sounds, electrical ambience. Flange-esque throbbing arcs throughout. "Oppression Sacrament" mixes religious chants into its miasma; "Strength Through Fear" saws out trenchant, cello-esque lines.

  At 22 and a half minutes, "In the Teeth of the Wolf" is the record's linchpin. It's Godflesh inverted - guitars imploded so their atmosphere faces out, militant percussion marching in the background, cymbals hissing in a sea of roiling drones. The mix is seamless; the effect is cinematic. Ridley Scott would kill to have this for a soundtrack. Imagine exploring a massive, abandoned spaceship that mysteriously crackles with electrical life - or death.

  This is art as it should be - fierce, nuanced, with room for interpretation. It comes in a beautiful digipak with matte finish and laminated accents.

From Ascension: (by Gianfranco Santoro)

  Regola numero uno: prima di formulare un giudizio su "The Sacred Truth", ascoltatelo almeno tre volte. Un solo ascolto vi suggerirà asfissiante pesantezza. Regola numero due: non date troppo peso alla presenza di Christopher Walton, componente di quel duo di primordiale dark ambient e "esoteric electronica" chiamato Endura; o meglio, non dubitatene in termini di qualità, ma non aspettatevi un album, ad esempio, di scura elettronica "stile Cold Meat". Walton ha superato la fase dark ambient raggiungendo un suono impercettibilmente sacrale, mistico, quasi religioso, ma allo stesso tempo descrive queste "rivelazioni" in tutta la loro natura: terribili incubi dopo i quali il mondo sembra morire, fra fiamme scure e mostri dalle zanne d'acciaio sotto forma di drones taglienti e mortali. Suoni che sembrano uscire da degli Endura o In Slaughter Natives dal D.N.A. rivoltato, innaturale e ancora più suggestiva in circolazione, sia essa di marca Inade e Troum o forgiata nel torrido calderone post Sunn O))). Con grande maestria e gusto noir, Walton si pone come "terza forza", levandoci il respiro negli oltre quindici minuti di "Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt", nella mortificante "In The Teeth Of The Wolf" (il primo speranzoso accenno ritmico arriva solo dopo nove minuti) o nell'odore di carni bruciate della folle, irreale e morbosa "Christus Nox". Album eccellente del quale però, ai tradizionalisti del dark ambient, consigliamo l'ascolto solo del primo pezzo "Oppression Sacrament". Tutto il resto è un vero vortice nero mai scoperto in cui si rischia di cadere e di perdersi senza possibilità di ritorno: ve la sentite di correre questo rischio?

From DSide:

  Ten Horned Beast è il progetto dell’artista inglese Christopher Walton, che dopo aver militato nei demoniaci Endura, ha dato vita nel 2004 a questa nuova esperienza musicale che pur diversificandosi dalla precedente, ne ha conservato quella tensione verso un’oscurit‡ quanto piu assoluta. 'The Sacred Truth', primo vero e proprio LP prodotto dalla Cold Spring Records, ci getta da subito in un mondo impenetrabile fatto di suoni e riverberi che nascono quasi in sordina per rincorrersi, ripetersi e amalgamarsi a elementi musicali piu tradizionali… Le cinque tracce dell’album danno vita a un tutto variegato ma organico, caratterizzate come sono da un andamento inizialmente lento e sospeso, che assume poi, con il procedere della musica, una formula espressiva piu definita e d’impatto. Ad aprire l’album è la demoniaca 'Oppression Sacrament', che ci riporta alla mente i lavori di MZ412, in cui l’elemento vocale distorto e inquietante si fonde a una musica soffocante e orrorifica. Le due tracce successive, 'Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt' e 'Strenght Through Fear', che richiamano la stessa struttura compositiva, ci spingono verso quello che rappresenta l’apex dell’album il brano 'In The Teeth Of The Wolf' che fa totalmente esplodere l’anima nera di 'The Sacred Truth'. Walton ci regala qui il meglio della sua vena compositiva, già assaporata nei brani precedenti: suoni che si liquefanno l’uno nell’altro per lasciare ampio spazio a un elemento percussivo sempre piu incalzante. A conclusione, 'Christus Nox', un brano piu pacato e composto che non abbandona per la sua venatura di cupezza

  -|-|-» Musica tenebrosa, drammatica, intensa, soffocante, per un ascolto fortemente emozionale che riesce a scuotere senza incappare in eccessi e sbavature, cosa assai rara nell’attuale panorama musicale spesso così desolante… Da non perdere!!!

From Side-Line: (by DP)

  Christopher Walton aka TenHornedBeast got some recognition under the Endvra moniker. He now started a new project, which sounds as cold and Endvra, but without the typical ritual character that made the sound of Endvra. “The Sacred Truth” is however a kind of tormenting release where the musician again explores the depths of darkness. The sound is pure doom ambient-like. We’re in the grip of an icy sonic landscape where darkness appears to be eternal. This is a kind of disturbing release built up with long humming sound vibes. TenHornedBeast also moves on the edge of experimental music, but never looses its schizophrenic mood. I personally preferred the work of Endvra, but I’m sure TenHornedBeast can soon become even more tormenting.

From Ritual: (by Roberto Michieletto)

  TenHornedBeast, aka Christopher Walton (ex mente di Endvra), ha optato per un'indagine sonora criptica e ostica, dove i primi tre brani, "dinamicamente statici", costruiscono, con variazioni minime e scostamenti musicali iterativi, una sorta di lunga introduzione a quello che è il capolavoro del disco. 'In The Teeth Of The Wolf' è pezzo clamoroso, che in 22' e 41" edifica un suono di intensità e forza impressionanti, tali da creare un clima di oppressione, pressione e assordante clangore industriale. Dopo un avvio moderato, i toni si fanno cupi, metallici, sospinti da drone malevoli, percussioni e cimbali, dove non si è lontani dalle migliori opere di Dissecting Table. A chiudere troviamo 'Christus Nox', in cui i contorni risultano più sfumati e meno crudeli, pur se altrettanto inquietanti. Una sommossa di onde generatesi tanto dal caos quanto dal raziocinio e coagulatesi nel nome di una forma orchestrale ed epica di antimateria post industriale distorta.

From Flash Magazine: (By FG)

  Dopo due lavori di non facile reperibilite, TenHornedBeast pubblica il nuovo album attraverso la Coldspring Records che aveva già presentato questo progetto sulla compilation "Swarm". Christopher Walton è un autore tutt'altro che esordiente; molti di voi, infatti, lo ricorderanno come membro del ritual industrial project Endura, insieme a quel Stephen Pennick che ha poi proseguito il suo percorso musicale sotto il moniker "Ontario Blue". Questo "The Sacred Truth" immerge l'ascoltatore in ambienti cavernosi e suggestivi, investendolo con una magmatica drone ambient che prende vita dalla commistione di differenti sonorità. Il muro di riverberi creato dalle chitarre viene attraversato da dilatate melodie di matrice acustica - come nel caso del violoncello di "Strength Through Fear" - o industriale, generando un ibrido che fonde assieme la tetragona proposta dei SunnO)) o dei Khanate con un sound paragonabile a quello di Lustmord e Coph Nia. Impressionano poi i ventidue minuti della monolitica "In The Teeth Of The Wolf", in cui gli abissali layer portanti si fondono a ritmiche soffuse e sample sinistri, dando vita ad un mix che riesce a far incontrare drone doom e ritual ambient. TenHornedBeast colpisce per la capacità di aver riportato l'aura mistica degli Endura all'interno di uno scenario completamente diverso, proseguendo un percorso originale e degno di nota.

From Darkroom: (by Mauro Berchi)

  C'erano una volta gli Endvra, coraggiosi pionieri di un sound che cercava di coniugare dark ambient e melodia con risultati alterni (ottimi nell'esordio "Dreams Of Dark Waters", meno su "Great God Pan", di nuovo interessanti in "Black Eden" e meno incisivi su "Liber Leviathan"). Passa il tempo, gli Endvra si sciolgono, ma la voglia dell'inglese Chris Walton di mettere in musica le proprie visioni rimane immutata. Ecco nascere TenHornedBeast, one-man-band che trova nella sempre attiva Cold Spring terreno fertile per il proprio debutto ufficiale, dopo un paio di release minori in formato CDr . "The Sacred Truth" è un disco monolitico, pesante ed opprimente. In senso buono, quando si è predisposti ad un ascolto profondo e molto cupo. In senso cattivo, quando si necessita di un ascolto che offra variazioni e/o evoluzioni degne di tale nome. Due facce della stessa medaglia: prendere o lasciare... Le cinque tracce (tre delle quali di lunghezza davvero ragguardevole) del disco alternano muri di dark ambient cavernosissima a parti più ariose e melodiche, nelle quali trova spazio qualche reminiscenza 'sacrale' (i passaggi vocali quasi monastici di "Oppression Sacrament") e alcuni 'riffoni' di chitarre processate e sfigurate in modo così pesante da divenire irriconoscibili. Giusto per capirci, prendete i Sunn(((O))), purgateli della componente ritmica (oddio, ritmica è una parola grossa!) e sostituitela con drones puramente dark ambient. Non arriverei a chiamare 'doom' la musica proposta da TenHornedBeast, mancando del tutto di una struttura ritmica che sostenga le composizioni; c'è peraltro da dire che l'atmosfera ricreata è così cupa da permettere in ogni caso un accostamento con il genere. "The Sacred Truth" è in conclusione un disco double-face, che può risultare soddisfacente o lasciare del tutto indifferenti, a seconda della predisposizione d'animo del momento. Cosa che, alla fin fine, sono portato a considerare come un aspetto positivo. Semplice e ben concepito il digipack, in pregiato cartoncino opaco.

From Compulsion: (by Tony Dickie)

  The Sacred Truth is the first proper full-length album from TenHornedBeast, following a clutch of short-run CD-Rs that have appeared over the last three years or so. TenHornedBeast is the latest musical incarnation of Christopher Walton, formerly one-half of the dark ritual ambient duo Endura. The Sacred Truth continues Walton's immersion in magickal techniques, but musically it is a far darker and bleaker proposition than Endura. There's a definite occultic aspect to the work but despite the hooded figure holding aloft an antlered deer skull, and the snippet of philosophical text on the sleeve, there's no explicit magickal narrative. Instead TenHornedBeast offer some of the most staggering dark, drone material, hinging around two epic pieces: 'Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt' and 'In The Teeth Of The Wolf'.

  The pitch-black atmospherics of the opening track, 'Operation Sacrament', is teasing in the way the cavernous echoes, distant nocturnal clattering and torturous monk-like chants clamour around the dark ambient sounds often associated with artists on the Cold Meat Industry label. Where The Sacred Truth really hits its stride is on 'Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt'. It moves from billowed hiss into a high-pitched drone, gathering mordant orchestral strings that are stretched over a slo-mo shape-shifting drone, as low-end tones shudder and dissipate, unleashing reams of feedback before settling into a queasy unsettling interplay. Walton's measured approach to the 17 minute piece is frighteningly impressive, as he sustains a haunting claustrophobic presence without letting the wavering drones spill over into a pool of noise. It gets better. 'In The Teeth Of The Wolf' literally sucks you into a swirling vortex of black sound. A devastating 22 minutes of sustained feedback squall, devilish atmospherics and distorted drone chords. Unlike much of The Sacred Truth, this one teeters on the fringes of a "rock" sound but by the time the plodding, pounding drum beats and crashing cymbals appear it's akin to early Skullflower filtered through the doom sonics of today's vanguard of drone metallers. The frequent shimmer of percussive metallic crashes only heightens an already tense atmosphere. It's a staggering piece of music, and a definite highpoint of The Sacred Truth.

  The other tracks are of much shorter duration but effective nonetheless. The haunting sounds of 'Strength Through Fear' are built around repeated swabs of textured cello that swells into dark ambient blackness that is eventually subsumed by a torrent of feedback wail. The final piece, 'Christus Nox' is densely layered with caustic hum of blackened guitars, and deep reverberations. It hangs in the air with a palpable oppression before sliding off in a hazy, trail of feedback. The Sacred Truth is a mean record, filled with space but heavy on the dark atmospheres. A beast of a release, and very much recommended if you go for this sort of thing.

From Terrorizer: (by Joseph Stannard)

  Because of the proximity of Christopher Walton's cold drone-swarms to the dissonant experiments of composers Krzysztof Penderecki and Gyorgy Ligeti, as utilised in the films of the late cinematic auteur Stanley Kubrick, it's difficult to hear 'The Sacred Truth' without recalling images of young Danny Torrence frantically tricycling down teh corridors of the Overlook Hotel in 'The Shining' or primates circling the obsidian monolith in '2001: A Space Odyssey'. Aspiring to an atmosphere of darkness is a given in the world of extreme music, but the sheer negative energy Walton generates over the course of these five tracks is overwhelming, and while his music is recommended for use in occult ritual it sounds less like the soundtrack to a fancy dress orgy, more like the internal accompaniment to the long, dread-filled journey from bed to light switch. Closer 'Christus Nox' bears faint, almost familiar traces of doom metal, its guitar chords hanging in the atmosphere like the drawn-out groans of a brain-damaged demiurge, for the most part however, 'The Sacred Truth' is alien and unknowable.

From Blow Up: (by Paolo Bertoni)

  Un passato in Endura per Christopher Walton che non è distante da quanto ci propone nel suo attuale progetto solitario TenHornedBeast. “The Sacred Truth” si apre e chiude minacciosamente con i demoniaci turgori Lustmord di Oppression Sacrament e Christus Nox, magmi sinistri dalle cadenze tenebrosamente esoteriche, dark ambient greve che annichilisce ogni parvenza d’emozione, che si estende a dismisura nei due brani più lunghi, Our Lady Of The Lightining Bolt, immota drone music rinchiusa nell’oscurità, impermeabile ad ogni umano cedimento, e nella assai pregevole In The Teeth Of The Wolf, un vortice perforante irrorato di feedback e sostenuto da rimbombanti battiti percussivi, rispettivamente di diciotto e ventidue minuti. E’ però probabilmente la lugubre parentesi edificata su luttuosi archi di Strength Through Fear a rappresentare l’abisso più profondo ed insondabile del disco.

From Rock-A-Rolla: (by José Carlos Santos)

  Those more into the dark ambient side of things will probably remember Christopher Walton,, the single man behind the imposing presence of TenHornedBeast, as one half of 90s sombre occultists Endvra. While TenHornedBeast can't really be seen as a continuation from Walton's work in that band, nevertheless The Sacred Truth, already the project's third release, moves in similar territories sometimes. This is most notable in the prevalent ritualistic ambiance, but TenHornedBeast is more expansive and menacing than Endvra was. During the 65 minutes that these long, creeping five tracks last, TenHornedBeast's hellish, biblical-fuelled invocations take the form of howling feedback and Cold Meat Industry's brand of dark ambient (opener 'Oppression Sacrament'), powerful bass rumblings and skewed orchestration ('Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt') and even pitch-dark ritual metal with hazy guitar chords on top of far-away drum beats on the colossal 22-minute long 'In The Teeth Of The Wolf'. Although most of the album is very relevant and the huge tracks never really suffer from fast-forward syndrome, it could however do with maybe one less track, perhaps the less achieved 'Strength Through Fear', but that's not a huge deal. Anyone with an interest in music that is both esoteric and down-right evil should check this out.

From Vital Weekly: (by NMP)

  With a past in the British dark ambient-project Endura in joint venture with Stephen Pennick, Christopher Walton knows exactly how to create atmospheres of the disturbingly black kind. His solo-project "Tenhornedbeast" is like a trip back to the early days of death industrial. The expression on the five intersections of the album is repetitive and slowly moving, though the approach to dark minimalism varies on the overall album. With drones based on orchestration of the dark kind the associations from beginning of the album stylishly turns towards the Cold Meat Industry-scene, more precisely towards the lesser harsh moments of Brighter Death Now around the "Necrose Evangelicum"-period. From fourth intersection titled "In the teeth of the wolf", the drones becomes more guitar-based in the gloomy drone-rock style characterising the expression of Sunn O))), with a dark ambient-based touch reminding of Lustmord and early british industrial/metal-ambient-project Saw Throat (aka Sore Thoat). The true power of this album is Christopher Walton ability to create cinematic atmospheres of trance-like hypnotism with this great mixture of acoustic and synthetic. Impressive album.

From Mentenebre: (by Moultoenromes)

  “The Sacred Truth” es el quinto trabajo de Tenhornedbeast, formado por Christopher Walton después de Endura, navegando entre las metálicas praderas del Drone Doom y las benévolas aristas de los inhóspitos suelos del Dark Ambient.

  La producción es de corte ritual satánico, con un cargado sentido bíblico que pretende describir con fanática precisión los quehaceres de Satanás que, más que prevención, parece invitación.

  “The Sacred Truth” es un disco no muy recomendable para los expertos en Dark Ambient Drone Doom, pero es excelente material para aquellos que han decidido adentrarse cual Margaritas en el bosque en donde habita Mefistofeles después de haber decidido que Fausto es un tanto aburrido. Adquirir el cedé es, sin duda, una obligación para los coleccionistas de este género. No esperen una grata sorpresa, pero tampoco una aberrante desilusión ya que le hace falta la maestría de algunos genios en esto de describir ambientes oscuros-omitiré hacer comparaciones inútiles-, o quizás la inocencia de un par de chicos que se dispusieron a descomponer sus ordenadores y crearon algo insuperable y bueno; pero, a diferencia de otros, Christopher Walton promete llevarnos en futuras producciones a lugares horrendos llenos de cuadros Boschianos, porque sabe lo que hace, pero le falta intensidad a su obra.

  Lo plausible de esta producción es el increíble trabajo que realiza Christopher Walton al manipular todos los instrumentos, que van más allá de efectos de computadora o secuencias aburridas que se repiten hasta el cansancio sin motivo justificable alguno. Aquí encontramos lo que bien podrían ser guitarras distorsionadas, bajos, cuya labor trasciende-o desciende hasta tocar los cuernitos de Belcebú- del simple tum tum tum, al que estamos todos acostumbrados- en otros géneros músicales-, y el silencio representado por ruido inocente, casi carente de cuerpo.

  Ideal para ver caer la tarde, despedir al sol con una taza de café humeante, recibir a los más íntimos amigos, esperar el gélido abrazo de la noche en víspera de que los astros se acomoden para así entonces acomodar velas, sal, limpiar el suelo donde irán los hexagramas, pentagramas y demás símbolos ritualistas, pero no para realizar un ritual serio.

  La producción es muy buena, la ejecución de los instrumentos impecable, pero en sí la idea general de haberle puesto 'la verdad sagrada', usar paradigmas bíblicos y jugar con una idea tan maravillosa como lo es el satanismo desde el puritano punto de vista de la desvencijada iglesia, es un tanto aventurada. "The Sacred Truth" merecía un trabajo de mucho más peso, insoportable, no por lo aburrido, sino por lo abrumador y, como ya dije, esto se queda en los primeros años de enseñanza de una carrera oscuroambientalista.

  En esta ocasión recomiendo dos temas, 'Strength Through Fear', y 'Christus Nox' que, a mi humilde gusto, son temas fuertes y los más compenetrados con el título que les han puesto, ya que el primero ofrece como principio las notas graves de aquel instrumento-que no necesita de presentación- cuyas tensas cuerdas dan vida a los más grandes temores, es la voz de la oscuridad en sí; fortaleza y miedo, imágenes impresas por el mismo instrumento, seguido del angustiante zumbar de la incertidumbre. Es una delicia de siete coma treinta minutos. El segundo, 'Christus Nox' se desliza con firmeza durante los diez minutos veintiocho segundos que la integran, ofreciéndonos un tranquilo páramo de espinas, el inquieto respirar metálico del tiempo que se hincha mientras la canción avanza y te envuelve llenando de angustia cada uno de los poros de tu piel.

  Concluyo reiterando, es muy buen material, no para fanáticos del género, sino para simpatizantes, es algo de lo que pueden disfrutar hora tras hora, escucharlo bien mientras recrean imágenes bizarras, borrosas y confusas; sin embargo, no es la clase de música con la cual podrías clavarte en serio, alucinar, sentirte víctima o victimario en una zona en la que gritar AUXILIO podría provocar más risas que nada.

  No es lo más adecuado para invitar demonios a cenar a tu casa ni para seducir íncubos ni súcubos

From Heathen Harvest: (by G. P.)

  TenHornedBeast is new to me and am I ever glad I got to review this CD. Created by Christopher Walton of Endura fame, this is his own project where he experiments with dark ambient drones. While I have never been too big a fan of the little Endura that I have heard, TenHornedBeast is a project all its own and should be treated as such.

  On “The Sacred Truth”, TenHornedBeast present five lengthy tracks of dark droning ambient that totals around 65 minutes of music. Yes – there are some long songs. Dark occult-based thoughts guide Walton in his writing and the album contains an eerie and uneasy quality to it. Definitely too loud to be purely dark ambient, the music has an ongoing droning quality that adds to the atmosphere. At times, I found “The Sacred Truth” to have an almost cinematic quality; not in the sense of sounding like a musical score, but more so in its presentation and the way it shifts from sound to sound as if telling a story – a dark and unpleasant story most of us would rather not see.

  TenHornedBeast has a way of starting a song off slowly enough, introducing elements bit by bit and then adding to it; adding to the tension and the unsettling atmosphere. The general length of each song doesn’t allow you to escape quickly either: the songs drag you in and keep you in their dark embrace for a while before letting you go. “The Sacred Truth” forms a nice balance between calm and aggressive – active and reactive. The album flows well and remains consistent, but at the same time you never exactly know where any given track is going to take you. The music so effortlessly changes and shifts that it can be surprising sometimes to go back to a song and see where you started compared to where you ended up. Studio wise, this album is technically sound. The samples used are excellent and the production matches up well. There is really nothing to complain about in this respect as there rarely is from Cold Spring artists.

  In a world with so many different artists to listen to, TenHornedBeast makes a solid case for your attention. I’m not sure if I would recommend it for fans of Walton’s other project Endura, as this is quite different. That being said, this is a really good CD of dark droning ambient. If this is your style and where your interest lies, I would recommend “The Sacred Truth”. I enjoyed all five songs and will continue to listen to this album after my review. I would go so far to say that had I not received “The Sacred Truth” for review, I would buy it – take that for what you will.

From Obliveon: (by MK)

  Christopher Walton dürfte manch einem von seiner Zusammenarbeit mit den Dark Ambient Okkultisten Endura aus dem Jahre 1990 ein Begriff sein. „The Sacred Truth“ nun ist ein Album, das in den Jahren 2005/6 entstand und intensiver und packender ist als diese vorstehend genannte Kollaboration, besteht es aus fünf einzelnen Parts, die dermassen vielschichtig und voller unterschiedlicher, übereinander gelagerter Dronen sind, dass es mehr als eines Hördurchgangs bedarf, um die ganze Tiefe dieser Aufnahmen zu erfassen. Verzerrte Bässe, scheinbar in der Unendlichkeit verhallende Klänge, verzerrte und fast undefinierbare Gitarrenrückkopplungen sowie düstere Klanglandschaften bilden eine surreale und intensive Atmosphäre, die unwirklicher und menscheinfeindlicher nicht sein könnte, die keine Spur von Leben erkennen lässt und den Hörer zurückführt an seinen Ursprung: ohne das Wissen, die Erfahrungen und die Weisheit seines Lebens, sondern einzig und alleine auf sich und seine Ängste inmitten des Nichts gestellt, wo alleine die psychische Stärke und der Wille zum Überleben zählen, wo man sich seinen tiefsten und schlimmsten Ängsten stellt und wo sich aus diesem Überlebenswillen die einzige und heilige Wahrheit des Erkennens ergibt.

From Synthesis: (by Troy Southgate)

  HAVING previously reviewed "Ten Horns, Ten Stars" (2004) and "Woe to You Oh Earth and Sea" (2005), I was naturally pleased to obtain Christopher Walton's latest album. But whereas the first two recordings had been self-released, on this occasion Chris has rightly been taken under the wing of a major Industrial label with the kind of distribution and promotion that he deserves.

  The deep-brown digipak shows a hooded man wielding the skull and antlers of a stag. Between the horns there hovers a ten-pointed star, similar perhaps to the colourfully-tessellated mosaics that often appear in Islamic art. The same varnished symbol appears on the CD itself. But whilst the imagery surrounding this project tends to suggest that a strong Occult theme is at work just beneath the surface, Chris is a defiantly solitary and uncompromising figure who has insisted elsewhere that his latest opus is considerably less 'magickal' than the kind of material that he and Stephen Pennick were producing back in their Endura days. More importantly, however, "The Sacred Truth" seems committed to both engendering and putting forward a radical musical concept that stands decidedly against the shallow values of the modern age.

  With five tracks and sixty-five minutes of aural experimentation, Tenhornedbeast once again transcends the boundaries of sound. The early moments of 'Oppression Sacrament' are gently disturbing. Menacing groans and metallic energy jostle for space in the black heart of a Chthonic sermon. These are the incomprehensible mantras you would hear if you stumbled upon a diabolical ritual held in the tomb-strewn environs of a deserted churchyard, far away from the bourgeois safety-zone that characterises the glittering transience of the West in the twenty-first century. The darkly-religious theme seems to continue with 'Our Lady of the Lightning Bolt', not an ode to Diana Mosley but a tubular rush with perpetual ambient synths and an approaching drone that rumbles like a juggernaut in an underpass. The sound always threatens to become more extreme and does so occasionally with hard-edged swathes that increase the overall tension. Some of them wobble and shimmer in a psychedelic dronefest of pitches and wails, as the thin line between dark ambient and noise is finally bridged. The sentiments in the title 'Strength Through Fear' sound rather more accurate than the old Third Reich adage and this tuneful dirge sounds like somebody attempting to play an electric guitar with a cello bow. Behind it all, conducted with a terrifying speed, is a massive cacophony of feedback and electronic chaos. The track is filled with a constant oscillation, like someone rattling a metal spoon on the bars of a cage. The deranged frenzy of 'In the Teeth of a Wolf' is like the soundtrack to Dante's "Inferno" and contains a brutal mercilessness with little time for sentimentality. Grating riffs are unleashed like a chainsaw against a stone pillar; nerves are assailed by steel aural blades forged with an assiduous violence; and sometimes the velocity hastens and slows erratically. Tenhornedbeast's style constantly evokes images of sunken pools and subterranean chambers. There is nothing solar or Apollonian about Chris Walton‚s work and this album - even more so than its predecessors - is staunchly Dionysian in its nightmarish attempts to portray the darker side of human nature. A nature, perhaps, that in times of necessity should entirely transcend contractual laws of contemporary society and be deployed against other humans in order to readdress the natural order. The weak, it is inferred, become fuel for the strong. 'Christus Nox', meaning Christ Night, begins in more of a restrained fashion. The doom-laden riffs are there once again, but this time they add a strange gothic-ambience that replaces the devastating dissonance of the previous tracks with a more recognisable structure. Such is the cold minimalism on offer that if a few screaming vocals and frenetic drumbeats were added this would sound like a Burzum track. I really love the claustrophobic atmosphere used here, I think it's something decidedly 'northern', and by that I mean North European.

  "The Sacred Truth", then, is a brilliant release. Man the eternal predator waits on the periphery like a snarling psychopath, only this time he is wearing headphones and listening to Tenhornedbeast.

From Black Magazin: (by M.G.)

  Man kann inzwischen kaum noch eine Musikpublikation aufschlagen (ob Wire order Rolling Stone, ob Rock-A-Rolla oder Rolling Stone) ohne einen Verweis auf Sunn O))) zu finden - das mag zum Teil daran liegen, dass Greg Anderson und (im Besonderen) Stephen O'Malley sehr umtriebig sind (Burial Chamber Trio, Grave Temple, KTL etc), aber auch weil im Augenblick diese Art von Drone-Metal einfach hip ist. Die großartigen Nadja arbeiten schon länger in einem ähnlichen Bereich, TenHornedBeast - das neue Projekt von Christopher Walton, der die eine Hälfte des schon länger aufgelösten Duos Endvra war - scheint seit 2004 aktiv zu sein und bewegt sich auf ähnlichem Terrain. "The Sacred Truth" ist das dritte Album (allerdings das erste, das nach zwei CDRs in etwas größerem Rahmen veröffentlicht wird), Restpuren Endvras finden sich z.B. beim Opener "Oppression Sacrament" mit seinen pseudosakralen Momenten, aber ansonsten ist TenHornedBeast vielleicht weniger von der Stimmung als vielmehr von der musikalischen Umsetzung weit von dem Dark Ambient-Duo entfernt. Man hört bei "Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt" zurückgenommene, leicht melodische Southwälle, die aber immer kurz vor der Eruption bleiben. Im vierten Track - dem längsten des Albums und adäquat betitelten "In The Teeth Of The Wolf" - kommen dann heftigere Dronewälle und brutale Feedbackorgien auf über 20 Minuten zum Einsatz, ganz so, als seien die ersten Tracks die Vorbereitung gewesen - dieses Stück is dann auch sicher das Kernstück des Albums. Das Abschließende "Christus Nox" ist dann noch einmal ein kleiner Nachschlag. Was Titelgebung und Artwork anbelangt, bleibt Mr. Walton in der schon von Endvra beackerten Okkultecke, aber das gehört wohl dazu un auch wenn dieses Album sicher nicht an die Musik oben erwähnter Einflüsse heranreicht, muss man dieser "Bestie" dennoch konstatieren, dass sie alles andere ais zahnlos ist.

From Musique Machine: (by Roger Batty)

  The Sacred Truth is first slice of sonic darkness from this new project from Christopher Walton one half of the now defunct ocultic dark ambient, neo-classical & ritual percussion project Endvra. Thankful this doesn’t try to recapture Endvra's past glories instead this has it’s own grim identity that summons up a quite an organic mix of dark ambience, drone blackness & doomy/ blackened mettlic guitar tone.

  Oppression Sacrament stars the album off with musty, deep clunking dark ambient tones that rather brought to mind more Yen Pox’s at their more active,with swirls of blacken monk chanting and guitar feedback- it feels like one is carefully entering a vast black Cathedral lit by blood red light, sinister chants emitting from the lower levels, as the floor bellow your feet moves like dead black skin. Next up is Our lady of the lighting bolt which revolves around slowing dark and deep ambient tones downward descent with guitar tones and dark cinematics drifting here and there as it makes its slow 18 minute fall into pitch blackness.

  On track four In the teeth of the wolf the doomy guitar and blackened feedback elements take on a bigger role as they slowly roll like shadows tongues or sinister waves out of your speakers- painting your listener space with their airless blacken tar vibes. At about the ten minutes mark fuzzed and ritual percussion moves in like a procession of sinister mourners surrounding you, as it seems to get even more claustrophobic and grim almost having a slowed black metal feel about it all.

  A debut that though in places sounds a little samey is darkly rewarding & shows Walton stepping away from the dark if a little synthetic sound of Endvra into tenhornedbeast’s uncurling dark & organic nightmare world.

From Feindesland:

  Dieser ewige (und so langsam langweilig werdende) Pessimismus in den Köpfen der Künstlergilde strengt auch den hart gesottene Rezensenten zwangsläufig an. Sollen Ten Horned Beast ein Lichtblick am unkreativen Horizont sein, oder doch nur eine Fata Morgana? Gegensätzlich zu der Mehrzahl der "dunklen" Protagonisten, erwartet Sie auf "The Sacred Truth" von Ten Horned Beast eine Variante, die nicht offensichtlich Freude an der Zerstörung oder das Herbeischwören des Weltuntergangs transportiert, sondern im Okkultismus wurzelt. In den überwiegenden Fällen entpuppen sich okkult angehauchte Individuen als Phantasten, die die Realität nicht sehen oder ertragen wollen. Der lenkende bzw. denkende Kopf hinter Ten Horned Beast Christopher Walton werkelte davor bei Endvra, die ähnlichen nicht wissenschaftlich belegbaren Irrsinn in die Welt posaunten. Auf seiner MySpace Seite schreibt Christopher Walton, dass er den Okkult Faschismus (Grundlage: Hitler - Buddha - Krishna!) zu seinen Einflüssen zählt. Wer diesen spirituellen (politischen) Blödsinn braucht, findet ihn mit Ten Horned Beast definitiv vor. Meiner Person entlockt diese vorangegangene Thematik nur ein gequältes Kopfschütteln und die Frage: "Lernen einige Menschen in ihrem Dasein auf Mutter Erde nie? (Antwort, bitte selbst einsetzen!)".

  Musikalisch fischt Christopher Walton in einem Gewässer, das sich im Moment größter Popularität in unterschiedlichsten Kreisen erweist. Das amerikanische Aushängeschild dieser Bewegung lautet Sun O))), die mit ihrem extremen Drone Doom Kultstaus erreichten. Nein, Ten Horned Beast stellt keinen simplen Abklatsch der Götter aus den Staaten dar, sondern greift nur einige Strukturen für "The Sacred Truth" auf. Er entlehnt das Stilmittel der Monotonie, welches durch lang gezogene bzw. verfremdete Gitarren- bzw. Basslinien Einzug in die Tonkunst von Ten Horned Beast hält. Wer das Projekt Endvra kennt (bzw. schätzt), nimmt schnell wahr, dass Christopher Walton ähnliche Dark Ambient Spuren und okkulte Sprach- bzw. Tonsamples zur Akzentuierung des zuhörenden Gesamtkomplex nutzt. Interessant scheint die Tatsache, dass der extravagante Aktivist einen Spannungsbogen über das komplette Oeuvre aufbaut, der sich für geneigte Konsumenten zum Erlebnis entwickelt. Christopher Walton versteht die Kunst, die Intensität der Musik durchweg in die Höhe zuschrauben. Heißt im Endergebnis, die 5 Stücke gewinnen immer mehr an dronigen Momenten zu und nehmen an Dark Ambient Sequenzen ab. Hörerschichten, die bisher schon Sun O))) und Konsorten nicht für sich entdecken konnten, müssen Ten Horned Beast direkt von ihrem Einkaufszettel streichen, ansonsten droht eine böse Überraschung. Wer versuchen möchte "The Sacred Truth" beim ersten Hördurchgang zu evaluieren, wünsche ich an dieser Stelle viel Erfolg, da dies eine unlösbare Aufgabe auch für geschulte Rezipientinnen und Rezipienten aufwirft. Zu voluminös offenbart sich die Gesamtheit von "The Sacred Truth", die in Form von Klängen nahe dem Weltuntergang kommt.

  Die Produktion lässt keine Wünsche offen und beschert ein berauschendes Erlebnis, welches auch in letzter Schlusskonsequenz mit den nahen Verwandten mithalten kann.

  Wo könnte so eine Publikation ausser bei Cold Spring Records in England das Licht der Welt erblicken? Nirgends, kein Label sammelt in diesem Umfang verrückte (extreme) Akteure an und versorgt den Untergrund mit ausreichend Material, welches mit Ten Horned Beast neue Ausuferungen annimmt.

From Necroweb: (by Blizzard)

  TenHornedBeast fungierten früher unter dem Namen Endura, mit welchen man schon diverse Tonträger auf verschiedenen Labels veröffentlichte. Nun ist man bei Cold Spring gelandet und passt hervorragend in dessen Konzept, ohne die Erwartungen jedoch zu erfüllen, welche man mitunter mit dem Label verbindet. Die Visionen, welche uns hier Christopher Walton schmackhaft machen will, sind durchweg düsterer Natur und auf 5 längere Akte verteilt. Ob man bei Endura genauso zu Werke ging, kann ich nicht beurteilen. Wenn ja, hab ich nicht viel verpasst. Recht unauffällig und abwechslungsarm kommen die Tracks daher gewabbert, stilistische Vielfalt scheint hier ein Fremdwort. Paradebeispiel dafür ist "Strength Through Fear", ein wirklich totlangweiliger Track, der diese Betitelung überhaupt nicht verdient hat. Ohne Übertreibung - hier passiert wirklich nichts was erwähnenswert wäre.

  Einziger Lichtblick und Kernstück des Werkes stellt der Titel "In The Teeth Of The Wolf" dar, welcher vor Überlänge strotzt und auf einem rythmischen Grundfundament aufgebaut ist. Wenn man dann allerdings 10 Minuten warten muss, bis sich der Song halbwegs aufgebaut hat, ist man aber auch schon wieder entmutigt. Das wars dann auch schon, diese lieblose Klangcollage enthält für mich leider keine weiteren positiven Aspekte, um nennenswert hervorgehoben zu werden.

  Vergleichen kann man das Teil mit Band Of Pain, welche aber im Gegensatz zum hier vorliegenden Tonträger weitaus mehr Klasse haben. Eingefleischte Anhänger des Drone Ambient sollten vorher Probe hören, denn bei so viel Monotonie fallen selbst mir die Augen zu. Gute Nacht.

From Obskure: (by Emmanuël)

  Abyssal est le nouvel essai dark ambient signé TenHornedBeast, projet de Christopher Walton, un musicien connu des adeptes de musiques atmosphériques pour avoir servi les occultes Endura, originellement connus sous le nom Abraxas.

  "The Sacred Truth" est le premier album officiel de Christopher sous le nom TenHornedBeast, après deux tirages confidentiels en CD-R, le premier autoproduit ("Ten Stars – Ten Horns") et le second sur NOTHingness Records ("Woe To You, Oh Earth And Sea").

  Autant dire que la confidence aura fait long feu. TenHornedBeast se voit mis à l’honneur dès cette année 2007 par un Cold Spring lui réservant, après une place sur la très belle compilation "Swarm", un digipack cartonné simple mais de toute beauté. Enregistré courant 2005 / 2006, "The Sacred Truth" se décompose en cinq volumes sourds et desquels perce, dans la grande tradition développée par des labels tels que Cold Meat Industry ou (a fortiori et en l’occurrence) Cold Spring, une percussion minimale. Elle se greffe sur des développements opaques, caverneux (le long déploiement de "Our lady of the lightning Bolt"). Un send de l’abstractions… que Julian Cope lui-même adore, paraît-il. Apparts orchestraux fins et minimaux ("Strength through Fear" joue son approche sur de mornes traces de violoncelle, gagnées progressivement par de religieuses et sourdes textures synthétiques) et armatures sonores à base de guitares (l’impressionnant et épique "In The Teeth of the Wolf", vingt-deux minutes d’épreuve métallique) se confondent pour aboutir à un substrat obsessionnel et mouvant, hypnotique. Ses armatures, contemplatives, ne se résument pas à une pure expérimentation sur la matière son. Les manipulations retiennent ainsi, sur certaines parties, une ambition mélodique, faisant de ce premier essai officiel une intéressante carte de visite quoique très ancrée dans les canons connus du Dark Ambient : spatialité et rappels industriels.

  Un disque digne d’intérêt, et clairement destiné aux amateurs du genre.

From Twilight Zone: (by Michele Viali)

  Ten Horned Beast nasce in tempi recenti dalla mente di Christopher Walton, uno dei due ideatori del celebre act industrial-esoterico Endvra, ormai defunto. Il nuovo progetto raccoglie in sé quei miasmi sulfurei che hanno segnato il passato (a partire dalla copertina panico-caprina), ma con un tocco più personale e innovativo rispetto alla scena corrente. Siamo ancora nei paesaggi lugubri della dark-ambient, ma i toni sono sviluppati ora a partire (così sembra) da riverberi strumentali sviluppati all’infinito. In particolare i feedback di chitarra vanno a creare dei muri analoghi a droni elettronici già nell’apertura affidata a “Oppression Sacrament”. I tempi lenti e dilatati si svolgono in modo lineare, evitando le ripetizioni ossessive, spesso tipiche di questo genere. Le tracce più lunghe (“Our Lady of the Lightning Bolt” e “In the Teeth of the Wolf”) di circa 20 minuti ciascuna, sono dei veri e propri buchi neri senza fondo che portano l’ascoltatore in una caduta libera nel Maelstrom. In particolare “In the teeth of the Wolf” rende l’essenza dell’album: un urlo strumentale calmo e lancinante al tempo stesso, un unico riverbero che si muove nello spazio, che si duplica a metà traccia in un tono più grave con l’aggiunta di percussioni ovattate; alla fine di tutto sembra essere giunti al centro della terra dinnanzi a qualche oscura, maligna entità. Non nego che alcuni passaggi di “The Sacred Truth” possano ricondurre ad atmosfere Black metal, soprattutto alla frangia più minimale scandinava, in cui l’uso ruvido, sporco e non tecnico degli strumenti portava non di rado ad esiti simil-industrial. La chiusa di “Christus Nox” ha le fattezze di una celebrazione in nero, il suono compatto dà sensazioni di inesorabilità ancora una volta dettate da uno sviluppo lineare del tema sonoro, che si apre a ventaglio nel suo pacato e orrorifico scorrere.

  La confezione in digipak laminato è molto bella, capace di ripercorrere nella sua essenzialità lo stile proposto nella musica: fa piacere vedere come la Cold Spring inizi finalmente a dare un’importanza maggiore alla veste grafica in un’epoca in cui questo aspetto viene troppo spesso dimenticato. Ten Horned Beast è un classico prodotto dark-ambient con forti venature demoniache (il pensiero corre indietro a MZ412), ma elaborato a partire da una strumentazione dilaniata che conduce ai ben noti lidi industrial e forse un legame più o meno effettivo con produzioni del passato come quelle degli SPK non è poi così fuori luogo, almeno per alcuni suoni. “The Sacred Truth” è un lavoro che potrà positivamente sorprendere gli stessi irriducibili seguaci della Cold Meat Industry, nonché chi già ha familiarità con questi suoni. La Cold Spring ha ormai messo a punto uno dei cataloghi industrial-sperimentali (ma non solo) più invidiabili della scena attuale e Ten Horned Beast è un ulteriore tassello che dimostra quanto l’etichetta inglese stia riuscendo a raccogliere l’eredità di blasonate labels albioniche del passato come Broken Flag o United Diaries.

From Dagheisha: (by Roberto Michieletto)

  La verità sacra, ma anche la verità come dogma. Comunque lo si voglia intendere, il titolo del disco di TenHornedBeast suggerisce argomenti per nulla semplici da elaborare e confrontarsi con simili tematiche implica che l’ambito entro cui le si colloca debba essere altrettanto rilevante e adeguato. Nel caso specifico Christopher Walton (ex mente di Endvra, quindi uno che di ambientazioni oscure ne sa qualcosa) ha optato per un’indagine sonora spesso criptica e ostica. L’ascolto di ‘The Sacred Truth’ lascia intendere che i primi tre brani, che debbono essere catalogati alla voce “dinamicamente statici”, hanno il compito di costruire, con variazioni minime e scostamenti musicali iterativi una sorta di lunga introduzione, oltre mezz’ora, a quello che si rivela essere il capolavoro all’interno di un lavoro buono. ‘In The Teeth Of The Wolf’ è pezzo clamoroso, che in 22 minuti e 41 secondi riesce a edificare un suono, che forse non è la rappresentazione della verità a cui si faceva riferimento all’inizio, ma di una intensità e di una forza impressionanti, tali da creare un clima di oppressione, di pressione e di assordante clangore industriale concepito in un luogo solitamente dedito a pratiche spirituali, quasi a voler sottolineare il contrasto che si genera durante l’evoluzione della traccia. Perché dopo un avvio moderato, i toni si fanno realmente cupi, metallici, sospinti da drone malevoli, percussioni e cimbali e forzati in un contesto dove le visioni rumorose si solidificano all’istante, benché sia chiaro che ci si trovi in un clima raggelante e dove non si è così lontani dalle migliori opere del maestro Dissecting Table. A seguire ci sono i dieci minuti abbondanti della conclusiva ‘Christus Nox’, in cui i contorni risultano più sfumati e meno crudeli, pur se altrettanto inquietanti. Una sommossa di onde generatesi tanto dal caos quanto dal raziocinio, ma poi coagulatesi nel nome di una forma orchestrale ed epica di antimateria post industriale distorta e affine alla tradizione nata dalla congiunzione tra SunnO))) e primi Raison D’Être.

From Chain D.L.K.: (by Maurizio Pustianaz)

  From the depth of the most nightmarish Old and New Testament vision (the Ten Horned Beast is named before "Revelation"17:3/13:1 and "Daniel" 7:7) comes the inspiration for the TenHornedBeast, project of Christopher Walton of Endura fame. THE SACRED TRUTH is the first proper CD album of the project (Christopher released previously a couple of CDr privately and through NOTHingness REcords) and contains five magmatic drones suites. If you were used to the electronic/ambient/experimental sound of the Endura, try to put it aside as TenHornedBeast is based on a different sound/approach. At first I was surprised to read a review of this CD by Julian Cope where he compared this album to the kraut rock sound he loves so much but if you think about records like Amon Duul II's "Yeti" and to its long improvisations (the last three tracks of the CD reissued recently) TenHornedBeast sounds like a dark version of it, where classic rock instruments are treated and sound like reaped cellos or like reverbs on death corridors. Christopher on the second panel of the cover talked about a process of destruction of the standards imposed to men by modern age and his great truth is witnessing this process (I hope we'll be able to get more in depth on the forthcoming interview) and tracks like "Our lady of the lightning bolt" and "In the teeth of the woolf" seem to be its soundtrack.

From Alternativ Musik: (by Marius Meyer)

  TenHornedBeast ist das neue Projekt von Christopher Walton, der sich nach seinen Veröffentlichungen mit Endvra nun solo anschickt, mit seiner Vision von düsterem Ambient die Zielgruppe zu verzücken. Aus diesem Grunde erscheint nun auf dem britischen Label Cold Spring das erste Solo-Album, das zwar nur eine Titelzahl von fünf Stücken, dafür aber eine Spieldauer von über einer Stunde aufweist. Mit auffällig langen Spieldauern entwirft er dabei ausufernde Ambient-Sphären mit einem bedrohlichen Charakter, sprengt das Songformat und biete eher collagenartig anstrengendes, aber gleichermaßen auch sehr ansprechendes Tonmaterial. Genreüblich wird hier die betonte Langsamkeit zelebriert.

  Repräsentativ für die Veröffentlichung ist dabei der In The Teeth Of The Wolf, der mit seinen 22 Minuten das Herzstück der Veröffentlichung darstellt. Bedrückendes Dröhnen eröffnet den Titel. Ketten von Feedback, die intensiv ins Ohr dringen und dabei eine unbequeme, aber packende Spannung aufbauen. Es ist düster und gleichermaßen atmosphärisch, was Walton hier zelebriert. Auch bedrückend ist es, dennoch lässt es einen nicht los. Aus dem Nichts tauchen neue Klänge auf, ein kaltes Dröhnen beispielweise, außerdem penetrante Geräusche, die trotz ihrer Penetranz nicht auf die Nerven gehen wollen. Immer wieder sind es neue Frequenzen, andere Geräusche und – nicht zu vergessen – überraschende Zwischenmomente, die in aller Langsamkeit ein Gefühl der Plötzlichkeit vermitteln. Dies sind die Grundpfeiler, auf denen Christopher Walton aka TenHornedBeast sein Solo-Debüt aufbaut. Seine Erfahrung in diesem Bereich hört man dabei eindeutig heraus.

  Für die musikalische Einordnung eignet es sich bei The Sacred Truth am besten, wenn man die Bezeichnung Doom Ambient wählt. So fasst man den bedrückenden Charakter und die grundlegende musikalische Einordnung gut zusammen und erfasst sehr genau das, was das Album bietet. Wie es bei Veröffentlichungen aus derlei Genres natürlich immer so ist, ist auch dieses Album sicher etwas für eine Minderheit. Mit „Musik“ im gängigen Sinne des Wortes hat dies sicherlich nicht viel zu tun, dafür beweist Walton, dass der Anspruch, Kunst zu schaffen, durchaus gerechtfertigt ist. Es ist sehr gekonnt, was er auf dieser Veröffentlichung vorweist. Wer Klänge dieser Art mag, wird sicher begeistert sein und kann definitiv zugreifen. Der Sammler kann sich außerdem freuen, kommt die CD doch in einem schicken DigiPak. Wer Intro – Strophe – Chorus – Strophe – Chorus – Outro erwartet, sollte lieber woanders zugreifen (die Auswahl ist ja glücklicherweise groß), Freunde des Verschrobenen finden hier eine gelungene Veröffentlichung vor.

From Ultrasonica: (by Jackie Low)

  Il titolare del progetto Tenhornedbeast è Christopher Walton, ben noto sabotatore sonoro al servizio di quegli Endura che avevano segnato una tappa importante della musica d’ambiente esoterica. La sua veste solitaria, fa piacere notarlo, continua a mantenere intatta quell’aura di sacralità che aveva contraddistinto il progetto originale, ed anzi ne amplifica i toni, sia esteticamente che musicalmente. Tanti i riferimenti alla bestia biblica, molti i collegamenti ad una spiritualità pre-giudaica, che fanno non da orpello ma da condizione necessaria per un suono che si colloca senza particolari novità stilistiche nei campi nebbiosi dell’ambient drone più criptico ed emozionalmente oscuro. C’è qualcosa dei SunnO)) nelle cinque tracce che compongono “The Sacred Truth” pur senza raggiungerne gli apici di estremismo ed inaccessibilità, ma anche la lezione della Cold Meat Industry contribuisce a strutturare un album denso ed estenuante, dove le movenze rallentano senza nulla concedere al ritmo, dove il concetto di doom non si appoggia ad una strumentazione rock ma impregna le frequenze stagnanti dei synth e dei feedback. Una menzione particolare a “Strenght Through Fear”, che accompagna con una linea melodica estremamente semplice ed efficace una discesa nell’Ade alla luce delle torce. Questo è il valore più importante dell’album: non la ricerca di soluzioni necessariamente nuove o di stravolgimenti stilistici, ma la qualità al servizio di un prodotto di genere. Walton confeziona un album ottimamente costruito, ricco di suggestioni, e lo fa lavorando in quei linguaggi che padroneggia al meglio. Un’uscita a segno per l’attivissima Cold Spring, che la conferma come una delle etichette di punta nella desolazione dark ambient industriale.

From Head Heritage: (by Julian Cope)

  Equally essential for the real Inner Space Cadet is THE SACRED TRUTH, the devastated and devastating third album from England’s Ten Horned Beast. Led by former Endura member Christopher Walton and released on Northampton’s excellent Cold Spring Records, this darkly ambulant record roams the granite fundament of the underworld like a shackled and platform-booted Jonah in the queasy belly of Leviathan. Distraught male baritones, planet-sized orchestral percussion, and what sounds like Kurzweil synthesizers unite herein to create a euphorically abrasive and intensely suffocating atmosphere. Indeed, I would imagine that fans of CLUSTER 1 and Queen Elizabeth’s ELIZABETH VAGINA should especially enjoy THE SACRED TRUTH’s two most strung out epics ‘Our Lady of the Lightning Bolt’ and ‘In the Teeth of the Wolf’. This highly catchy, nay, contagious release can be accessed at www.coldspring.co.uk, so potential sufferers should shuffle their creaking carcasses over there and pronto, Tonto.

From Aquarius Records:

  It's been two long years we've been waiting to hear more from mysterious UK outfit Tenhornedbeast, after a mindblowing cd-r ofY´"epic sprawling primitive doom/drone" that was so limited it was gone in a flash.

  This is THB's first proper full length, and just as we'd hoped and expected, it's epic and intense. Massive and cavernous, abject and utterly terrifying. Dark ambient, but so much heavier than that would lead one to believe

  From the very first track, the listener is sucked into some dark otherworld, a long sprawl of oozing black slither, chanted monk like vocals, crashing distant percussion, and crushing swells of deep rumbling blackness. It's a slow trawl through the bleakest pits of the underworld, filled with groaning melodies, creaking and threatening to crash to the ground like rotten timbers. The first of three ultra long tracks is "Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt", a nearly twenty minute threnody of mournful strings draped over glacial slabs of slow shifting blacks and greys, streaks of feedback and shards of high end skree spread out over the top, the sound becoming more and more intense and distorted, like a rising tide of amp buzz and guitar rumble, peppered with haunting dynamics and strangely orchestral arrangements. "Strength Through Fear" is a brief respite from the black hole crush, a menacing melancholy string section, being performed in some underground cavern, the notes ringing out against the dripping black walls, eventually being smeared into an intense fuzzed out chordal wash that gradually swallows everything else whole.

  The record's centerpiece seems to be the 22 minute "In The Teeth Of The Wolf", a terrifying guitarscape, that plays out like a harrowing journey through some bombed out razed landscape, nothing but smoldering blackness, distant thunder, ruins and chaos, a thick patina of corrosive guitar drone laid over everything like some warm wet blanket, a metal riff deconstructed and pulled apart, smeared and blurred, until it all coalesces into a slow motion pummel, an industrial plod beneath a monstrous guitar part, doom metal, abstracted and mechanized, stretched out over an army of hissing steam engines, of pounding martial drums, soaring triumphant melodies, nearly obscured by skies full of flame and black smoke, definitely one of the most intense pieces of music we've heard in ages.

  The record unwinds with a gorgeous drawn out black veil of sound, a rib cage rattling thrum, densely layered swells of distorted low end throb, woven into a subtly melodic, almost static dirge, that churns relentlessly like an orchestra of fog horns, before drifting off in a fuzzy cloud of hissy shimmer.

  Gorgeously packaged in a matte brown digipak, adorned with a haunting image of a shadowy figure holding an antlered skull aloft, beneath a strange symbol, printed in glossy reflective ink.

From Judas Kiss: (by Simon Collins)

  TenHornedBeast is the solo project of Co. Durham-based musician Christopher Walton, formerly one half of the 90s dark ambient duo Endvra, and The Sacred Truth is the third TenHornedBeast release, following 2004’s self-released CD-R Ten Stars – Ten Horns and 2005’s release on Nothingness Records, Woe To You, Oh Earth And Sea. TenHornedBeast also contributed a track called ‘Archangel’ to the Cold Spring Records sampler Swarm – I don’t know whether it was this that prompted Cold Spring’s Justin Mitchell to give THB a full album release, but I’m very glad he did, because this is just an outstanding piece of work. Whilst THB display obvious affinities with extreme drone acts such as Earth, Sunn 0))) and Khanate on the one had, and occult-tinged ambient artists like Coil, Lustmord, Ain Soph and Coph Nia on the other, Christopher Walton’s project has a distinctive sound all of its own, both supple and powerful, using guitar, bass and percussion alongside the usual keyboards and laptop sound manipulation, these ‘real’ instruments lending a great deal of organic depth and vitality to THB’s sound.

  The Sacred Truth’s five tracks extend over 65 minutes of playing time. ‘Oppression Sacrament’ begins gently enough with orchestral strings, but swiftly descends into a harrowing realm of distorted ritualistic chanting, shrieks of feedback and sonorous atmospherics. Distant thudding noises and minor-key chords recall Raison d’Être and Cold Spring’s recent Sistrenatus release, but TenHornedBeast don’t really let the drones flow on this track, it’s a fairly conventional piece of dark ambient. The second track, ‘Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt’, is where this album really starts to flex its muscles. It’s much longer than the first track (18 minutes instead of nearly seven). Bowel-quakingly low bass notes underpin indefinitely sustained orchestral strings and carefully modulated high tones, maintaining an imposing presence through quite simple means. Profoundly contemplative, this music seems to suspend time, and is a great aid to visualisation – closing your eyes and focusing on the slow, inexorable slippage of tones causes all sorts of images to arise in the third eye. ‘Strength Through Fear’ opens with a repeated passage of deep bowed strings, sinister and foreboding. Ambient background atmospherics gradually gain predominance over the string section, until the track fades out in a windswept howl of feedback. ‘In The Teeth Of The Wolf’ is, at over 22 minutes, the longest track on the album. It’s also the most percussive, employing distant, thudding drum beats, shimmering crashes of cymbal and other metallic percussion to contain and define the entropic surges of feedback and dissonance. Filthy, fuzzed-up power chords thrown into the sonic cauldron make ‘In The Teeth Of The Wolf’ the most metal-sounding track on the album, as well as being its high point, an absolute drone classic. The closing track ‘Christus Nox’ is less intense, opening with subdued gong notes building and decaying, then introducing deep, booming bass notes with something strange going on deep down in the mix, which sounds like looped church bells, but could just be my by-now thoroughly stimulated imagination. The rest is silence.

  Mention should also be made of The Sacred Truth’s packaging, and kudos is due to Finnish industrial musician Niko Skorpio for his top-notch design job. The minimalist matt finish digipack sleeve with spot varnishing is rich with warm brown tones, lending an appropriately earthy, shamanic feel to the release.

  Ambient releases like this are always difficult to review – in the absence of lyrics, tunes, beats or recognisable musical structure, there are limited things that a critic can say about what they’re listening to. And describing the difference between good, bad and mediocre ambient music is also deeply subjective – it either works or it doesn’t, basically, and The Sacred Truth really works. There’s no doubt that some listeners just won’t get it, though, and no matter how much I sing the praises of this album, if you don’t like drone ambient, you won’t like this. If however, you do like drones of the deepest, darkest most bituminous hue imaginable, ineffably menacing and as black as a lady ninja’s lingerie drawer, then this album is as indispensable as Earth 2 or Sunn 0)))’s Black1. If you want my opinion (which presumably you do, since you’re reading this…), THB is the most exciting new act to come crawling out of the Cold Spring catacombs in quite a while. But enough of my droning on – TenHornedBeast’s drones are so much prettier!

From The League Of Independent Satanists:

  Just indulge me here for a moment will you? Thanks....

   Imagine if you will, that at the end of life when you finally sink into that last sleep that you finally find yourself going down, down, down into the first circle of Hades until you finally find yourself at the reception/arrivals lounge in a state of confusion and uncertainty, what do you think they will be playing over the sound system? I can safely say that it most probably will be TenHornedBeast's "The Sacred Truth", as appropriately black and Stygian as that place is rendered in our hearts and imaginations...

   TenHornedBeast (a typist's nightmare) is Christopher Walton, ex of Death/Dark Ambient purveyors Endvra, and what he has produced is nothing short of the most threatening, unnerving & unsettling doom-laden sonics it has been my good fortune to hear... drones and feedback intermingle and intetwine in menacing partnership, the listener hitching a cold water-drenched ride in Charon's little ferry snaking along the Styx in brooding dank mould-bedecked chasms and rocky cathedrals of cemetarial stench... drawn-out bells and unearthly voices and moaniongs pronouncing the final doom of the human soul, shorn of its fantasies of the mortal realms and confronted with the unutterable and unpalatable truth that give the lie to the false hope foisted upon the gullible and desperate... a perfect soundtrack for when your girl/boyfriend leaves you and takes your treasured collection of Nurse With Wound LPs and everything else except the clothes you put on that morning and a tatty old decrepit armchair... funereal dirge at its finest...