By: John Reppion
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 12/01/2018
Label: Argonauta Records |
Atypeek
Music
“Horsepower” is an interesting and accomplished album
– a wonderful piece of doomy, gloomy, ritual rock – which should
please fans of Greyfell’s
previous work, and no doubt introduce many new listeners to the band.
“Horsepower” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1). The People's Temple
2). Horses
3). No Love
4). Spirit of the Bear
5). King of Xenophobia
The Review:
Normandy's Greyfell are in their sixth year of
existence, and 2018's “Horsepower” is
their second full length release (following 2015's “Vol. 1: I Got the Silver”).
The entirely non-cheesy, yet nevertheless somehow retro rock-swagger
of the first album endures, but the production and atmosphere of “Horsepower” are quite
different to those of its predecessor; there’s something darker, bleaker, yet
more polished and deliberate about this record, something that calls to mind
the ambience, if not the actual sounds, of chilly1980s
post-punk and pre-industrial.
“People’s Temple’s” droning gothy
keyboard sounds are, fittingly, our introduction to “Horsepower”. Greyfell’s riffs are still big and fuzzed
out with that same subtle eastern influence, but the desolate
reverb soaked vocals, and the ever present whistle and wheeze of those
keys set the scene – the agenda, really – for the rest of the record. They are
the aural equivalent of the murk from a fog machine; adding intrigue and
atmosphere to the phantom stage on which “Horsepower” is performed.
“Horses” starts out sparse and slow
- fuzzy feedback and warping keys behind diving yet simple bass and drums – but
gets progressively more aggressive and noisy. “No Love’s” Killing Joke-eque
reverb bass intro becomes something much more bludgeoning. The dynamics
remain the same – wide open echoing choruses and bigger, heavier
verses. It works well, and it’s the template for the album.
Almost from
its first note “Spirit of the Bear” proclaims itself
to be the hugest, heaviest, most epic thing on “Horsepower”. Vocally, at times, it’s a bit like Simon Le
Bon joined Godflesh.
But in a good way. “King of Xenophobia” is
doomier than all that’s gone before. The track feels like
its about to go “full goth” somewhere around
mid-way, but canters back around to its big riff which is eventually swallowed
whole in the hungry fog of the ever-present keys.
“Horsepower” feels a lot like a first
album and, while it’s not a gigantic departure, it’s oddly hard (for me,
at least) to reconcile it with what Greyfell have
released previously. It is not a direction I would have anticipated the band
going in, but that’s surely no bad thing.
While the album has a very
deliberate, well crafted atmosphere of its own, I feel like there are
times when it robs individual tracks of their identity – the
sounds and dynamics of “Horsepower” are
so consistent throughout that there is a very real danger of the dreaded
spectre of “samey-ness” rearing its head. That said, “Horsepower” is an
interesting and accomplished album – a wonderful piece of doomy, gloomy,
ritual rock – which should please fans of Greyfell’s previous work, and no doubt introduce many new
listeners to the band.
“Horsepower” is available to buy on CD via here and LP via here
