To borrow from Willem Dafoe’s excellent portrayal of Agent Paul Smecker in “Boondock Saints”:

This was a fucking bomb dropping on Beaver Cleaverville. For a few seconds, this place was Armageddon. There was a firefight!

And there you have Form Decay’s Behold Horns. An atomic bomb, a Sherman tank, a line of woodchippers seeking out limbs. Dare I say this is an out of control trolley, screaming off of its tracks aiming for a park full of bystanders? Form Decay are from San Francisco after all. This album will fuck you up. And you will say “Thank you, may I have some more”.

If Napalm Death, Discharge, His Hero Is Gone and Terrorizer got to baby-making on a bed of rusty nails, the spawn of said coitus would result in the maelstrom you hear on Behold Horns. The album is consistently and chaotically brutal throughout its sub-15 minute existence, but within that brutality is a pointed and concise dedication to the craft of heavy music. Form Decay love what they do and they do it with love. I understand that pressing play on this album and simultaneously having the word “love” in your mind seems like a contradiction but, alas, it exists nonetheless.

While hardcore punk evokes a very specific type of mental image in terms of sound, appearance, and overall temperament, Form Decay embodies a very hardcore punk ethos in what they do albeit not in those “traditional” forms. To me, hardcore punk is very much a get in, say your shit, get the fuck out before the listener even knows what hit them. Album closer “Specter Of Oblivion” kicks in with a two step beat that will have you circle pitting in your living room while “Beyond The Boundless” would’ve felt right at home on an album by The Hope Conspiracy.

Even sludge makes brief appearances in “Void Host”, “Blood To Earth”, and title track “Behold Horns”. Mind you, these moments are fleeting because Form Decay are interested in pummeling the fuck out of you whenever possible. “Narcissist Coronation” is 58 seconds of grind and uptempo d-beat while album opener “Anti-Light” is an exhibition in thrashy death metal.

Every member of the band is more than proficient in their respective roles. Drummer, Amar Khalasi is the straw that stirs the acid drink as he pushes Form Decay to go faster and more brutal while bassist Ian Deaderick inhabits the gut wrenching low end. Guitarists Aakash Khalasi and Andre Toledo round out the attack with proficiencies across genres. And vocalist Helio Berumen might be in the running for my favorite singer of 2025. It seems as if he’s pulling from the very depths of Hell to unleash his disdain yet still maintaining an air of clarity in what he’s saying.

As you can see, Form Decay has elicited quite a score from the old Windmills with Behold Horns. They have assembled a collection of chunes that are all at once familiar and yet still fresh. This is the way to make a heavy record. Press play and enjoy this San Francisco treat.

• Fav song: “Beyond The Boundless”

FFO: grindcore, grinding bones, d-beat, crust, metal, trolleys, hardcore, punk, Rice a Roni

Follow this fucking link to listen and while you’re there, fucking buy something from the band:

https://transylvanianrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/form-decay-behold-horns

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