Horde (originally called Beheadoth) is the

unblack metal Unblack metal (also known as Christian black metal) is a religious philosophy and subgenre within black metal, inheriting several characteristics of it, such as the melody, the lyrics and the aesthetics ( corpse paint), whose artists either dir ...

solo project of Australian musician

Jayson Sherlock Jayson Sherlock (born 1970) is a Christian metal musician from Australia. He began his career in the Australian death metal band Mortification, which was considered to be a major pioneer in the genre. Sherlock was the founder of the one-man p ...

, formerly of Mortification and Paramaecium. In 1994, the only studio album, ''

Hellig Usvart ''Hellig Usvart'' is the debut studio album by Australian unblack metal band Horde, released on Nuclear Blast Records in 1994. Upon its release, the album created a controversy among many black metal fans; death threats were sent to Nuclear Blas ...

,'' was released on

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. With a session line-up, Horde played live in 2006 in Norway and in 2010 in Finland and Germany. ''Hellig Usvart'' proved to be a seminal release for the unblack metal movement, and the album was highly controversial in the secular

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

scene at the time it was released.

History

Sherlock recorded one studio album, ''Hellig Usvart'' ("Holy Unblack"), under the pseudonym "Anonymous" (a possible play on "

Euronymous Øystein Aarseth (; 22 March 1968 – 10 August 1993), better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the N ...

", Mayhem guitarist), releasing it on Nuclear Blast in 1994, followed by a later re-release by

Rowe Productions Steve Rowe (born 19 January 1965) is the founder, bass guitarist, and vocalist of the Australian Christian death metal band Mortification which was considered to be a major pioneer in the genre. Prior to forming Mortification he was in a tr ...

. The album title is

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, a fact which led many to believe, while Sherlock was still anonymous, that Horde originated from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, a fact backed up by the poor production quality on the album, considered to be a trademark of Norwegian black metal. Upon the initial release of ''Hellig Usvart'', a publicity campaign was launched throughout the black metal community, revolving around Sherlock being credited as "Anonymous". Unsuccessful death threats were given to Markus Staiger at Nuclear Blast, who founded the record label, to reveal the identity of the anonymous musician who had created the album, although the identity of the musician was later revealed as Jayson Sherlock. Horde as an entity also received death threats for being a Christian band playing black metal. Upon its original release in 1994, 4,000 copies of the album were printed. In 1999, Rowe Productions purchased the remaining copies and distributed them worldwide. ''Hellig Usvart'' was re-released for the album's tenth anniversary in 2004 on Rowe Productions and Soundmass with an additional track entitled "Mine Heart Doth Beseech Thee (O Master)", which was originally included on ''Godspeed: Australian Metal Compilation'' in 1994 by Rowe Productions and also included on later Soundmass reissues of ''Hellig Usvart''. The album is difficult to come by and sought after by many. In April 2007, a live album, ''The Day of Total Armageddon Holocaust – Alive in Oslo'', was released on Veridon Music and contains the 2006 performance of Horde at

Nordic Fest Nordic Fest is a weekend festival held annually in Decorah, Iowa, () to commemorate the traditional customs and culture of Scandinavian countries, especially Norway. The event always occurs over the last weekend in July and often draws estimated c ...

; a video album of the concert was released by the same label on DVD. In May 2008, Polish label

Metal Mind Productions Metal Mind Productions (MMP) is a Polish record label founded in 1987. The label focuses on rock and heavy metal. MMP is also publisher of ''Metal Hammer'', the largest and the oldest heavy metal magazine. As a concert agency, it organises Met ...

released a remaster of ''Hellig Usvart'' with three bonus tracks from the 2007 live album. In 2018, Soundmass released ''Hellig Usvart'' on vinyl and later reissued it on CD in 2019 for the album's twenty-fifth anniversary. ''Hellig Usvart'' pioneered the previously unheard of genre of "

" (sometimes referred to as "Holy UnBlack Metal"); since its release, major bands such as

A Hill to Die Upon A Hill To Die Upon is an American blackened death metal band from the Monmouth- Galesburg area of Illinois, formed in 2004 by the brothers Adam and R. Michael Cook. The brothers initially founded the band as hardcore project, but eventually star ...

, Antestor, and

Crimson Moonlight Crimson Moonlight is a Swedish unblack metal band. The band was formed in the summer of 1997 with the mere intention of recording a primitive old school black metal demo and playing one show before breaking up. However, the breakup never happe ...

and minor bands such as Dark Endless (also an unblack metal band with one member) and

Hortor Hortor is a Mexican extreme unblack metal band originated in Mexico City, Mexico in March 2004. The band's name translated in English means "Animate". Members have been involved in multiple projects including Freddy Acosta for his solo project ...

have emerged as proponents of Christian unblack metal. The album is

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

of the satanic black metal scene in that it twists common black metal phrases into a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

ideal. The general message of ''Hellig Usvart'' is the destruction and rejection of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

, in favour of

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

. There is also direct and indirect praise of God throughout the record. Horde's music is mostly dark, simple, and very fast driving unblack metal-style with high-pitched shrieking or growling vocals. Some tracks, such as "Invert the Inverted Cross", utilise

double-bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

work to drive the song. Keyboards are sprinkled in throughout the album as well and appear on such tracks as "Release and Clothe the Virgin Sacrifice". Horde gave their first live performance at Nordic Fest in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway on 3 November 2006, with Jayson Sherlock as drummer and vocalist and with help from three members of the Christian unblack metal band Drottnar under the stage names Kvest, Bøddel, and Gestalt. The band played its second live show at Immortal Metal Fest,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on 17 April 2010, with the same live line-up as Nordic Fest. According to the festival's website, Sherlock agreed to play the show because the festival celebrated its tenth anniversary. Horde was also announced to play at the Blast of Eternity festival in Germany in November 2010.

Band members

;Current members * Jayson "Anonymous" Sherlock – vocals, drums (1994–present), guitars, bass, keyboards (1994) ;Live musicians *Simon "Pilgrim" Rosen – vocals (2006, 2010) *Karl Fredrik "Kvest" Lind – guitars (2006, 2010, 2012) *Bengt "Bøddel" Olsson – guitars (2006, 2010, 2012) *Håvar "Gestalt" Wormdahl – bass (2006, 2010, 2012) ;Timeline ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:200 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/2013 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:2 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1994 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1995 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:LGuitar value:teal legend:Lead_Guitar id:RGuitar value:green legend:Rhythm_Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Albums value:black legend:Studio_releases id:EP value:gray(0.55) legend:Others_releases id:bars value:gray(0.95) BackgroundColors=bars:bars LineData = at:09/01/1994 color:black layer:back at:04/01/2007 color:EP layer:back BarData = bar:Pilgrim text:"Simon Rosen" bar:Bøddel text:"Bengt Olsson" bar:Kvest text:"Karl Lind" bar:Gestalt text:"Håvar Wormdahl" bar:Jayson text:"Jayson Sherlock" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:Jayson from:start till:01/01/1995 color:LGuitar width:9 bar:Jayson from:start till:01/01/1995 color:RGuitar width:7 bar:Jayson from:start till:01/01/1995 color:Bass width:5 bar:Jayson from:start till:01/01/1995 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Jayson from:start till:01/01/1995 color:Drums bar:Jayson from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:Drums bar:Jayson from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 color:Drums bar:Jayson from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 color:Drums bar:Jayson from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Pilgrim from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:Vocals bar:Pilgrim from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 color:Vocals bar:Bøddel from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:LGuitar bar:Bøddel from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 color:LGuitar bar:Bøddel from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 color:LGuitar bar:Kvest from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:RGuitar bar:Kvest from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 color:RGuitar bar:Kvest from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 color:RGuitar bar:Gestalt from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:Bass bar:Gestalt from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 color:Bass bar:Gestalt from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 color:Bass

Discography

;Studio albums *''

'' (1994) ;Live albums * ''The Day of Total Armageddon Holocaust – Alive in Oslo'' (2007) ;Video albums *''The Day of Total Armageddon Holocaust – Alive in Oslo'' (2007)

References

External links

Rowe Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horde Australian black metal musical groups Unblack metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 1994 Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Christian extreme metal groups One-man bands Nuclear Blast artists Australian Christian metal musical groups Rowe Productions artists 1994 establishments in Australia