A lot of words come to mind when trying to describe Pulled Apart By Horses’ latest record, but first among them is ‘complete’.
In every way ‘Blood‘ is a complete album. The band’s sound has matured and feels fuller, like all the elements have come together to fully form a wall of impressive sound.
Their writing too is now stronger than ever, the tracks are not just of quality, but seem cohesive and aligned, all combining to give the feeling of a complete record. In the context of their previous albums it feels like both a natural progression and a wonderfully bold step forward.
Many reviews will probably use terms like accessible, but quite frankly that’s just condescending and cowardly. In simple and honest terms it’s just full of strong writing and amazing performances, attributes that should win over any audience.
Quality is always valued.
The songs themselves are individually impressive, but ‘Blood’ is the musical equivalent of a bomb, its ferocious power coming from the sum of its constituent parts. All the pieces when aligned come together and explode, embodied in the wonderful closer ‘Golden Monument‘, where this phenomenal feat is produced within a single track.
All the more impressive given how many wonderful intricate parts there are to be found here. Opener ‘Hot Squash‘ brings the intensity of the record to bare from the off. Its alternating time signatures and rhythms are complex and fascinating, yet it is brilliant and catchy all the same, feels like simplicity itself, and the typically wittily entitled ‘ADHD in HD‘ is just off-kilter and all the better for it.
Going straight from the old-school punk belter of ‘Bag Of Snakes‘ into the Sonic Youth style ‘Outahead‘, and then banging the whole record in reverse with the ballsy rock of ‘Medium Rare‘, the daring side of Pulled Apart by Horses is laid bare, while the angst of ‘Grim Deal‘ and the menacing undercurrent of ‘You Want It‘ sees the album emotionally stripped to its very bones.
Pulled Apart by Horses are an exposed nerve, fresh and raw. They have always managed to express emotion in a hyper-real way, but on ‘Blood’ they have become the emotions they are exploring. The culmination of this comes on the truly sublime ‘Lizard Baby‘, sleazy and debauched, the sound of a dirty mind. A standout moment.
The sound and writing is reminiscent of ‘Bleach‘-era Nirvana for the most part, with a good measure of Sonic Youth’s ‘Goo‘ just to round it out – but it is only reminiscent, it never sounds like these records, just sharing a raw intensity, anger and appealing debauchery, and it’s this combination that makes the record explode, soaked throughout with so much intensity and energy that it can be hard to keep up. It is tireless, but never tiring. Yes, Pulled Apart By Horses have crafted a complete record.
Completely fascinating, completely beguiling and completely brilliant throughout.
