When it comes to metal there's no denying that the guitarist is a crucial piece of the puzzle. While Himsa definitely faced some uncertainty during the recording of this effort in the form of a revolving door of shredders, the material here is still impeccably coherent. With thrashy and Euro-styled nods to the bands earlier days, "Hail Horror" is a juggernaut of North American metalcore that comes cloaked in an ominous black cloud.

Much like a juggernaut too this album charges in and causes massive amounts of destruction, rarely relenting to look back and see the wreckage left in its wake. There are no melodic clean vocals, few instrumental interludes and nothing in the way of commercial friendliness. Compounding this is the slightly raw production, which gives the agitated riffing and pounding drums an abrasive edge for the ruthlessly shouted vocals to violently bleed upon.

Harmonies are still a key factor of the band, it's just that they are quite subtle this time around and usually consist of some drawn out serpentine notes/soloing or rapid fire picking. This in itself is not a bad thing, what is however is the similar songwriting formula the band continually exercise. Everything about this album is entirely competent, and yet none of it takes that bold step out to suggest genius or innovation.

Stacked up against their peers, Himsa stand toe to toe and deliver an enjoyably brutal affair. But with such a familiar sound to it, it's not likely "Hail Horror" will elevate Himsa to superstar status anytime soon. Instead it will probably see them remain a talented, yet somewhat routine player in the current North American metal scene.