Audrey Horne

Taking their name from the character played by Sherilyn Fenn in David Lynch's cult television series Twin Peaks, Audrey Horne's melodic hard rock/post-grunge sound draws inspiration from classic rockers like Van Halen, Alice in Chains, Kiss, and Iron Maiden, despite having its roots in black metal. Commencing with 2005's hard-hitting No Hay Banda, the group began to incorporate elements of harmony-laden classic rock into their sound on subsequent efforts like Youngblood (2013), Blackout (2018), and Devil's Bell (2022). Audrey Horne was founded in 2002 in Bergen, Norway around the talents of Torkjell Rød (Sylvia Wane), Thomas Tofthagen (Sahg), Arve Isdal (Enslaved), Tom Cato Visnes (Gorgoroth, King ov Hell), and Herbrand Larsen (Enslaved). The band issued an EP, Confessions & Alcohol, in advance of their full-length debut, 2005's No Hay Banda; the album took home the Norwegian Grammy Award in the Best Metal Act category the following year. The group's sophomore effort, Le Fol, was released in 2007. That year also saw the amicable departures of Visnes and Larsen, the latter of whom continued to work with the group in the studio as a producer/engineer. An eponymous third full-length outing arrived in 2010, followed in 2013 by Youngblood, which saw the band dialing back on the post-grunge and amping up the Thin Lizzy-style guitarmonies. Pure Heavy (2014) and Blackout (2018) continued in the same mode, and in 2020, the band issued their first concert LP, Waiting for the Night. Two years later, they returned with Devil's Bell. Driving, focused, and self-recorded, the punchy nine-song set included the fiery, earworm-heavy single of the same name. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi