Half Blood

Horseback’s young but varied catalog has been remarkable in its ability to capture distinctly different subgenres of heavy music with impressive virtuosity: drone, doom, black-metal, psychedelia, post-rock, noise etc etc. With ‘Half Blood’, Horseback’s first true ‘new release’ for Relapse, the band’s mastermind Jenks Miller has brilliantly managed to throw all of those styles into one seamless album. ‘Half Blood’ naturally shifts from Americana twang to fiercely evil buzzing guitars to hypnotically meditative kraut-drone with a level of confidence that takes other bands years to master. Horseback’s ‘Half Blood’ is Neurosis on a Neil Young overdose, Earth after being locked in a room with Merzbow for weeks straight. This is an album at once immediately captivating as well as rewarding for those who treasure music that reveals new twists and turns with repeated listens.

Frostbitten Scandinavian black metal and rustic U.S. roots music harmonize on Horseback's second proper LP to create a sweeping mix of ugliness and beauty. It's post-rock at its most spartan and hard rock at its most out-there.

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A review of Horseback - Half Blood which is out worldwide from Relapse Records. Happy Metal Guy waxes poetic.