Horskh is back with its third album!
Three years after Wire, the trio comprising Bastien Hennaut (vocals/machines/guitar, PØGØ), Jordan Daverio (machines/guitar and live backing vocals) and Sylvain Abriel (live drums) unveil BODY.
The album kicks off with Tension, an ultra-energetic mix of jerky riffs and screams, occasionally interspersed with quieter parts of clean vocals. The majority of this short track remains dedicated to violence, in contrast to Do It, which features a calmer rhythm, though at times disturbed by more motivating choruses supported by a heavier beat. We have some heady elements on Interface, with its catchy vocal changes that fit in with the chaotic approach that promises to be formidable live, before returning to darker more disquieting elements on Body Building, a track that nonetheless incorporates some fairly danceable tones to fuel the contrast. The band stays with mysterious sounds with XlungX, a composition that also features a few steamy backing vocals before going wild with Nu Metal influences, then Curse offers us an intriguing interlude that naturally leads us to Turbine ON, a track that has already proved its effectiveness, as it was revealed before the album’s release. No doubt it was also designed to get the crowd going as the vocalist harangues merrily, while Useless Animal is more oppressive in mood, thanks in particular to the heavy sounds complemented by the vocal parts. The band returns to aggression on Laying Down in the Mud, with its strident keyboards that naturally combine with waves of raw power, then with Distorted Again, which combines driving parts with blocks of thick, devastating saturation. The album comes to a close with It Spreads, a final composition that returns to darkness before crushing us by surprise, then finally joining nothingness.
Horskh once again imposes its Industrial-rooted influences to present BODY, the new collection of relatively short but still incredibly effective compositions. Get ready to dance and mosh!
85/100
Hello, and thank you for your time! How would you introduce the band Horskh without using the usual musical style labels?
Bastien Hennaut (vocals/machines/guitar) : Hello. Thanks a lot!
Body, your third album, is about to be released, how do you feel? Have you had any feedback on it yet?
Bastien: I think this is the band’s most accomplished album. It’s also the one I’m most proud of, because it really corresponds to what I wanted to do when I was writing it. It’s been quite a while since the tracks were finished, and even with hindsight I still like it. I’ve had good feedback on it, which is quite pleasing! Inevitably, some tracks appeal more to some people than others, but on the whole it’s been pretty complimentary.
How would you sum up Body in three words?
Bastien: Violence, tension, melodic.
Body comes out three years after Wire, your previous album. Did you notice any changes or evolutions in your creative process?
Bastien: The composition of Body also took place over a long period of time. In other words, I started composing for Body before the Wire album came out. I like to give tracks time, and come back to them to see if they still sound good months later. A track like Tension (which is one of my favorites from that album) was actually a drop from the Wire album. I didn’t manage to finish it properly in 2019, so I went back to it later and thought « ah yeah, there’s something to do with this track! », and so it ended up on the next album. It happened for 2 or 3 tracks. I also like to compose fast, as was the case with Body Building. What also changed on this album was that on some tracks we started composing together in a rehearsal room with Jordan and Briou. For Do it and Laying down in the mud, I wanted to have a very Grunge basis. So we got together on a day off (during the tour we did with Igorrr in December 2021) and started looking for stuff together. This gave us the basis for Do it, which I reworked over hundreds of hours to add that Horskh « touch » with an Electro sound.
How do you relate the name Horskh to your music?
Bastien: It sounds aggressive, there’s an air of mystery about it, and you can’t find anything else with that name on the net. You can imagine a lot of things around that name too, and that’s what I liked about it.
BODY follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, but the mix is more aggressive and heavy, with a strong emphasis on machines and keyboards. What were your influences in the creation of this album?
Bastien: The mix and mastering were done by Thibault Chaumont (Carpenter Brut, Igorrr etc…), which gave it an aggressive color. I was looking for a sound that was violent but not too aggressive for the ears. And I knew Thibault would fit the bill! Basically, I wanted it to be loud enough without hurting. All this with a lot of angry elements, it’s not easy! But I think we did pretty well. My influences were very varied, but the main ones were Nirvana, Ghostemane, Perturbator, Health, Ho99o9 and 3 Teeth.
How did you choose the singles that were released to announce the album?
Bastien: I chose the tracks that seemed to me the most « banger ». In other words, they’re the easiest to listen to. There are other tracks that I think are just as strong, but more difficult to access. I’m thinking of Distorted Again, which is very unstructured, or XLUNGX, which alternates haunting verses and electro with super-fast aggressive passages. I like the fact of going from quiet verses to thumping choruses, which is also a bit of my Nirvana influence. Songs like Lithium or even Smells Like Teen Spirit are in that vein.
I know it’s a tough question, but do you have a favorite track on this album? Or the one that came most naturally to you?
Bastien: As I said before, I really like TENSION because it combines Grunge, Metal and Electro. It’s short, hard-hitting and also has a melody that brings life. Body Building was pretty quick to compose because I had a very precise idea in mind, especially for the instrumentation. The vocals took a little longer, as is often the case!
What can you tell me about BODY‘s artwork? How did you go about creating it, and how do you feel it corresponds to the music?
Bastien: It took quite a long time to create the artwork too! I wanted a 3D visual, with shimmers from fluids or elements like latex or leather. And I also wanted some kind of aggressiveness. So I spent a long time looking for someone who could do that. I finally got in touch with Yoann Bourreau, with whom we had done the Wire album cover. We talked a lot about it. He showed me the potential of AI! So he suggested a number of visuals, but we couldn’t come up with anything that matched what I wanted. So I started working on AI-generated images. I spent a lot of time testing things out, refining my requests and so on, until I finally came up with the image I wanted! We then worked with Alx, our graphic designer, on the typography, the placement of lettering, the overall graphic charter etc…
I was lucky enough to see you perform on stage at the end of 2021, opening for Igorrr, and I was able to appreciate what you described to me as a « complete show ». How did you create Horskh‘s scenic identity?
Bastien: Horskh‘s scenic identity has been forged since 2014. It is the continuity of everything Horskh presents to the public, whether in terms of merchandising, visuals in artwork, clips etc… We pay particular attention to scenography, sound and light. In addition, I did Beaux-Arts, as well as being a lighting technician and stage manager. All this enabled me to work out as precisely as possible what I had in mind. And of course, energy is the most important element in Horskh concerts.
How does an Horskh concert work from your point of view? The band has already announced the Distorted Body Tour 2024, how are you preparing for this tour in France and Belgium?
Bastien: A Horskh concert involves a lot of preparation. It’s like a sort of Kamehameha, in Dragon Ball Z, that’s been worked on for years and then exploded when we play live. We’ve just done our first date in Besançon, the town where we’re from, and it went really well. We’re very happy with the new show we’re putting on, and we can’t wait to do more dates.
Do you have any plans for the future of Horskh?
Bastien: There are lots of ideas and things in the pipeline, but right now we’re really concentrating on the album release and upcoming dates.
Who do you think are the new must-see bands on the scene? Have you seen the Industrial scene evolve in three years?
Bastien: For me, the unmissable bands on the industrial scene (if it really exists!!) would be Health, Youth Code, 3 Teeth and Nine Inch Nails.
Are there any musicians or artists you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Bastien: Yes, of course, there are lots of musicians I’d like to collaborate with. All those I’ve just mentioned, and lots of others too! I could mention Scarlxrd, Brooke Candy, deathbyromy, Sierra, Perturbator, Ghostemane and many others!
Do you think you’ve improved as a musician with this album?
Bastien: There’s something impalpable about creation. You can acquire skills and lose feeling at the same time, or vice versa. In this case, with this album, I really feel I’ve evolved and improved a lot.
That was my last question. Thank you for your availability, and I’ll leave you with the last words!
Bastien: I invite everyone to come and see us live and to follow us on the networks, or check out our merchandising at horskh.com.