Doomed Confessionary: Daf, Kevin, Wim & Sven (Growing Horns)
Photo credits: Riethaeve Fatn Photography
Some bands play heavy. Growing Horns drags you through the mud, ties millstones to your soul, and sings lullabies in the language of ruin.
Formed in 2015 in the shadow-cloaked depths of Kortrijk, Belgium, Growing Horns didn’t emerge as just another sludge band – they rose as a séance. A slow-burning, punishing invocation of pain, fury, and existential dread. Their sound isn’t forged – it’s exorcised.
Their 2019 debut EP, »The Nobility of Pain«, landed like a blow to the chest. A raw, unrelenting outpouring of emotion that critics called relentless and fans called home. It wasn’t just music – it was a wound. Pulsing. Festering. Unrepentantly real.
In May 2025, the Belgian collective returns with »The Essence Of Suffering« – an album that doesn’t simply gaze into the abyss, but sets up camp, builds an altar, and lights black candles in its honor. Heavier, darker, and more immersive than anything before, this new chapter digs even deeper into their signature sound: a harrowing fusion of sludge, doom, and stoner-infused despair.
Growing Horns consists of Daf (vocals), Didier (guitar), Sven (guitar), Wim (bass) and Kevin (drums).
Can you please say a few words about your band?
Daf: Of course. We started out in the summer of 2015 when Didier (guitarist) placed an ad where he was looking for people to start a band in the vein of Crowbar. Wim (bassist) and I had been trying for some time to start a sludge band, but more along the lines of Eyehategod and Bongripper, but that ultimately turned to nothing because we couldn’t find a drummer and guitarist. Being big Crowbar fans ourselves, we decided to jam with Didier, who brought in Sven (guitarist) from his previous band, and Nick, a young hardcore drummer. Right now, we’re almost ten years (and three drummers 😀 ) further, and we have just released our first full length album »The Essence Of Suffering«, after having released a first EP »The Nobility Of Pain« at the end of 2019, right before the pandemic hit.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Wim: Getting our shit back together after the Covid pandemic and dealing with our ‘drummer-problem’. It took some time, but we did well, I guess. We prepared ourselves really well and took our time before going in the studio to record »The Essence Of Suffering«.
Sven: It’s also not always easy to combine, work, family and the band.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Daf: I’m most proud of the fact that after almost ten years, we’re still the same four friends making music together. And I’m quite confident that in the next ten years we’ll stay the same five friends making music together, because Kevin was the last piece of the puzzle to make Growing Horns complete again.
Wim: I’m really proud of how »The Essence Of Suffering« turned out. I hope it reaches more people than our debut EP did.
What was your biggest regret?
Wim: Not to be able to record »The Essence Of Suffering«!
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Kevin: Our passage at Headbangers Balls Fest this year, where we introduced our new album, was intense and extremely satisfying. It felt great seeing a crowd enjoying something you worked so hard on.
Daf: There’s a few that stand out, like Headbanger’s Balls Fest a couple of weeks ago and the Alcatraz festival in 2021, but every show we play where we share the stage with some other bands and it clicks is very cool.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Daf: That there is a pre-covid and post-covid situation. Nowadays, there’s a lot of festivals or events that get cancelled last minute because presales are not going as intended and organizers are worried about not making enough money to be able to pay everything. A lot of things are costing double or even triple the price compared to before covid. Besides that, more recently: the impact of a certain orange asshole on bands that want to tour in the US and even in Europe. The bass player for Lord Buffalo was removed from a plane and detained by US Customs and Border Protection. He is a Mexican citizen but has a US Green Card and has been living in the US for more than 30 years. And some members from UK Subs were denied entry to the US for criticizing Trump. This is about as fascist as it gets, and this is just the beginning.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Kevin: Behemoth, Julie Christmas, Whores, Decapitated, Hell Is Other People.
Daf: Really hooked on the band Whores, who are so fucking ridiculously good, and I wish I had discovered them sooner! I almost pissed myself when I read that Acid Bath was getting back together, which was also a good reason to dust off When The Kite String Pops and, my favorite, Paegan Terrorism Tactics. Also a lot of Unsane and Neurosis.
Wim: Always some Crowbar, Whores, High On Fire, Yob, Igorrr…
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Daf: To have fun!
Kevin: There are no rules.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Kevin: My daughter got me introduced to Taylor Swift and now I’m hooked. I usually don’t care for most pop artists, but I dig this. Well, most of the times.
Daf: I love to blast and sing along with the pop music from 80’s and 90’s when I’m driving, like Roxette, Bangles, Pretenders, etc…
Can you say something more about the current music scene in your area?
Daf: That’s kind of complicated, because we live in three different provinces. Sven and Kev live in the West-Flanders area, Didier lives in the French part of the country and Wim and myself live in East-Flanders. But there’s a crazy good music scene in Belgium, with awesome heavy bands like Amenra, Doodseskader, Your Highness, Cobra The Impaler, Fire Down Below, Lowmad, Columbarium,…
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Daf: We’ll be playing a show with the Canadian sludge (or slutch, as they call it themselves) behemoth Dopethrone next month, and not long after that, the album is coming out on vinyl, for which we are planning some cool release shows too. But we want to play as much as possible, so get in touch if you got a cool place where you would like us to play!
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Kevin: Get another album out, and be quicker with it than we were with the last one. We aim to play bigger venues than before. O yeah, playing Alcatraz Metal Festival again, that would be a blast.
How can people best support your band?
Daf: It’s always cool that people show up at our shows and when they get in our flow with us. If you like what we’re doing, please tell other people about us, let them hear our music or show them our videos and drop by on our social media channels. Feed the algorithm! (hahahaha)
Kevin: If you have the opportunity to see us live, then please do and meet us at the merch stand. Stop for a chat and, oh yeah, if you like what we’re doing, buy our album and a shirt. That would be sweet.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Daf: Don’t eat yellow snow. Question everything!
Kevin: If you like our music, we are honored. If you love our music, you are doomed!
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Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well