INTERVIEW: Greekbastard discusses positive endings with Phoenix, AZ’s sludgiest band Horse Head

Don’t you just hate it when you’re just starting to dig a band and then they call it a day?  This year it’s Horse Head for me, one of the sludgiest bands to rise up from the heavy music hotbed of Phoenix, Arizona.  THE SLUDGELORD had questions for Horse Head vocalist Chris Gisriel and he left nothing on the table as Horse Head rides off into the proverbial sunset…    

“Terminal” is what I like to refer to as a posthumous release.  This is pretty unfortunate since Horse Head is adored by many.  What lead to the decision to disband and more importantly, how did “Terminal” survive? 

Chris Gisriel: I feel like I should say that one of us has some kind of terminal illness and is spending the rest of their remaining days travelling the world or something but the honest truth is that we all got really busy with our personal lives. Wilson and I are both heavily invested in higher education, Jonathan has another band (Sorxe) that is really taking off, and Drew has a family and career. As much fun as we’ve had over the years, we all felt like it was time to close the door on Horse Head.

We had some music that we knew was some of the best we’d ever made, and we wanted to leave our fans with something more. We’re happy to call it a day by releasing an EP that we’re proud of.

In 2015, you released your previous EP, “Missionary” and it received plenty of positive reviews.  Can you fill in gaps on what Horse Head was up to between the “Missionary” release and up to your final show this past August? 

Chris Gisriel: Wilson (Hensleigh) wrote the majority of the music we’ve made and while I blame him for writing slower than most, I also credit him for being an incredible musician. After releasing “Missionary” we wanted to avoid playing larger venues and focus on smaller, more intimate shows. There wasn’t much of a method to that madness – we just like playing smaller shows. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we’d rather play a loud house show where a donation can is passed for the touring band than a big venue where we have to sell tickets. We’re not knocking the latter. It’s just not our thing. In the last couple of years I think we’ve focused on what we’re comfortable with rather than selling our souls to be a big name. Maybe that just means we’re stubborn old fucks, though.

The last show we played was awesome. The touring band cancelled and we were worried that the show would take a hit on attendance but it turned out that a ton of people showed up just to see Horse Head’s last show. I think we played a great set and everyone was really supportive. We accepted pocket change for the last of our merch.

Did you shop any labels to release “Terminal” or for that matter, “Missionary”? 

Chris Gisriel: Nope. We never even had the conversation. One of my favorite things about Horse Head is that it’s always been unadulterated by a need for big promotion or fame. We play heavy metal and we do it well. That is our only aim.

In the late 80’s, Arizona put its stamp on the heavy metal world with bands such as Flotsam and Jetsam, Sacred Reich and Atrophy.  Is it me, or is it happening again with bands like Gatecreeper, Spirit Adrift and North? 

Chris Gisriel: I’m not sure it’s a fair comparison because in the late 80’s popular music was a little more in line with metal. Even now, Flotsam and Jetsam can tour and the old metal-heads still come out to party. Doom has a much more underground following and I think that its fans will look back at some of the popular AZ bands now and admire what they did for underground music. They’ll never be quite as popular, though. But that’s what is so great about doom and sludge: its lack of popularity is intrinsic. It’s counter culture. It’s anti-pop. That’s why it’s so awesome.

So now that Horse Head is no more, are there any new bands/projects in the works for the respective members? 

Chris Gisriel: I keep buying gear and basically filling a room for the day that special guitarist walks into my life. Seriously, I will definitely continue playing music. I play a few instruments and don’t feel comfortable unless I’m screaming my head off periodically. I can’t speak for Wilson or Andrew but I know that Jonathan has big things in the works for Sorxe. We love those dudes and wholeheartedly support them.

Horse Head has recorded both of their EPs at Audioconfusion Studio in Mesa, Arizona.  Why did you choose Audioconfusion for both of the recordings? 

Chris Gisriel: Jalipaz at Audioconfusion is a nationally renowned audio engineer and here he is, in our own back yard; of course, we’re going to take advantage of that. Much of Arizona’s best metal has come from his recording. He’s a friend and he knows how to record the Horse Head sound.

Any last words for your fans?

Chris Gisriel: We hope folks take a few minutes to check out some of the music we’ve made, especially “Terminal”. We put our heart and soul into it from the riffs and lyrics to the money and gear. Our only hope was to put our brick into the wall that consists of the music we love. We mostly want people to head bang to our music when they’re alone in their car. That would be ideal.

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

Sorxe - Surrounded By Shadows (Album Review)

Album Type: Album

Date Released: Sept 02nd 2014

Label: Self Released

Surrounded By Shadows - track listing:

1. Steamroller
2. Her Majesty
3. Join Us
4. Smoke Signals
5. Make It So
6. Creeper Beast
7. Made To Suffer
8. Surrounded By Shadows
9. The Mountain Man

Band Members

Shane Ocell - Drums

Tanner Crace - Guitar , Vox , Synth

Christopher Coons - Bass

Roger Williams - Bass

Review:

Sorxe are a four piece post-metal Goliath who formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 2012. Yeah that's right...I said post-metal! You got a problem with that? Like Neurosis you say? Maybe. Do they listen to ISIS? Probably. Are they any good...In a word, yes.

Anyway...enough pissing about.

The opening track is aptly named 'Steamroller'. It's heavy, really heavy. A simple pounding riff drags you in and stamps all over you, while the vocals sway between angry as hell and a cleaner, more ethereal sound. Flutters of stoner-rock inspired guitar tails make the continued riff more interesting. The pace slows, the drums become more oppressive, the whole song changes in to something else, a progression that makes sense as it moves towards a spaced out passage. Then we're off again. Things remain aggressive until the last second. Stand-out track indeed! A good way to start an album.

Track two 'Her Majesty' has a post-hardcore feel. The vocals are more pronounced from the off. Weird guitar noises pulsate until the riff builds, accompanied by a tribal drum pattern. Then we get handed another riff, this one seems to have come from the Mastodon school of metal. The music moves between these two elements until we're introduced to a dark, blues infused breakdown. It doesn't take long for the heavy to resurface and lead us out.

Cue drum intro...'Join Us'. The first few seconds almost feels like we're about to listen to The Dillinger Escape Plan, then it gets all heavy-doom-like and yet ANOTHER change in to a clean passage, with some mono-tonal chanting vocals that wouldn't be out of place on a Shrinebuilder album. I almost jumped when the agro returned with angular precision. The lead out is just noise but I like the way it made my head buzz. Pretty strange stuff.

Then comes 'Smoke Signals'. A stunning instrumental sound-scape full of cleverly crafted echoes, distant noises and crescendos. The powerful riffs that sit between each passage are truly massive. This is probably the most post-metal track on the album but I think it's pretty damn epic.

'Make It So' is an unusual hybrid of crust, post-hardcore and avant-garde metal. Again, there are lots of changes but they don't seem to have as dramatic an effect as they do in earlier tracks. There is yet another mellow section but by this point in the tune I had lost some enthusiasm....until they lay down an enormous sludge apocalypse! The last couple of minuets pulled me back on board.

Track number 6 'Creeper Beast' is introduced with a low-mid synth pulse that lasts just a few seconds until a palm muted chug arrives alongside a spitting vocal line. There's a short breather, then the first climax wave; drums introduce a down-tempo metal riff that quickly ends in dead silence. I kinda wish the track ended there but wave number two comes along and makes little sense (to me anyway). I feel the band started to get a little lost....I know I did.

'Made To Suffer' was just odd. All sorts of ideas thrown together, no real direction here. Some of the heavier passages were pretty cool but it took all my will power not to keep skipping the track for fear of losing my mind.

Title track 'Surrounded By Shadows' starts off with some very nice atmospherics. A swelling bass line sits behind controlled feedback, distant washes and cymbal rolls. It darkens as it progresses. On first listen I thought it would go somewhere on it's own but it serves more as an introduction to the closing track.....

….'The Mountain Man'. I felt we were back on target. Sorxe hang back, then unleash a volley of powerful brick wall riffs and reverb soaked lead. I was satisfied. The outro was an anticlimax but where else would they go? I'm not really sure.

Sorxe have their own ideas. Their sound is more than post-metal by numbers. They didn't just regurgitate 'Through Silver In Blood' or steal riffs from 'Panopticon'. You can obviously hear the influences burned in to the minds of the musicians when they listened to such important pieces of work. There's simply no getting away from the fact that a small handful of bands have left a mark on almost everything that came after. Sorxe have created something all their own, it's not perfect and I could easily pick out more than one track that I would probably skip while listening to this album in my ivory tower. but each part has it's place and adds to the experience. Don't believe me? Go listen to the leaked track over at Cvlt Nation for a taste of the sludgy nectar.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sorxe

Website: http://sorxe.com/

Leaked track: http://www.cvltnation.com/surrounded-by-shadows-sorxe-steamroller-track-stream/

Written by Keeran Williams

Thanks to Earsplit PR for sending us a promo to review. Surrounded By Shadows will be available to buy from Sept 02nd 2014.