Horizon of Darkness: Golden Haze

Matt Rizzo performs at Chicago's Hideout on August 2, 2016. Show description: Staring out from a catacomb deep within the "underground" is Horizon of Darkness, the one man project of Matt Rizzo. Horizon of Darkness was conceived in 2015 as an attempt to render into musical form three varying precepts: his love of extreme music, the imagery of Mexican wrestling and the aesthetic of black metal. Seated alone - shrouded in gloom, with his beloved Lucha libre and Z grade horror film projections flickering behind him and wearing a homemade tin foil mask, Rizzo begins his ritual. Accompanied by backing tracks, he hammers away at his open tuned guitar with a single drumstick while repetively moaning phrases such as "I am sitting in a pool of angels blood, I have clipped their wings, they are writhing in agony, why did I clip their wings? I need their power!, I need their power!!". These are some nightmarish concerns being exorcised by Horizon of Darkness. The 23-year-old Rizzo has definitely had an interesting life path. Born with a rare medical condition that causes his brain to have seizures quite literally every five minutes, he has overcome this massive obstacle with medication and a loving circle of family and friends. The only child of legendary musicians Janet Beveridge Bean and Rick Rizzo of Eleventh Dream Day, Rizzo has been surrounded by a diverse group of artists all his life. He discovered metal two years ago and was immediately drawn to bands like old school stalwarts Slayer as well as relative new comers Deaf Heaven. The musical style of Horizon of Darkness is more analogous with the chaos of Lightening Bolt, the brilliant exhortations of Nick Blinko from Rudimentary Peni and the misanthropy and production values of one man metal acts like Striborg. To call this outsider art would be a grave error. This is art created by an individual so in tune with his own private world while simultaneously absorbing the maelstrom of everyday existence in ways that few of us could contemplate. This is music made for the sheer cathartic euphoria of creating, reflecting and refracting a world only he sees. This is original and this is real. This is Horizon of Darkness.

Added 15 May 2026