Halfblood / Digipak

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.