Pulled Apart By Horses – The Haze (Album Review)

Posted on March 12, 2017 by walladmin

Pulled Apart By Horses – The Haze

Released: March 17th 2017

Line up

Tom Hudson // Vocals & Guitar

James Brown // Lead Guitar

Robert John Lee // Vocals & Bass

Tommy Davidson // Drums

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Upon first hearing about Pulled Apart By Horses a few years ago, I was very taken aback. With a name like that I expected some sort of musical wankery of the death metal variety, but in fact, they are an indie rock band from England, quite a good one might I add. It’s been about three years since their last album Blood was released, which boasted grunge inspired bass lines with a smattering of punk influences to round out their rock sound and The Haze doesn’t fall far from this tree but there have been a few changes.

The most glaring changes come from the greater impact that the punk rock sound has had on their work, most of the songs are faster and not quite so bass reliant, giving them a lighter and floatier sound. The closest song to any of their previous work is ‘Lamping’. with its slower tempo and prominent groovy, almost psychedelic, bass and rhythm harmonies, this song meanders (in a good way) through dreamy vocal sections and entrancing instrumentals. This is not to say that the rest of the songs are not quite obviously Pulled Apart By Horses numbers, because they certainly are, just with a more varied approach to their identity.

The first bar of opener ‘The Haze’ highlights this approach perfectly, as Tom Hudson’s rough, almost nasally voice splits through the silence, a driving punk rock song that opens the album up to all kinds of possibilities of influences and direction, though strictly calls to mind their previous self titled album and the pace that was kept up throughout. No better example of this stands on the album than ‘Prince of Meats’, the highlight of the album and the best song out of the lot, utilising a more nuanced approach to not only vocals but the guitar sections as well. The guitar tone sounds like something that Queens of the Stone Age would have used in their early days and this is by no means a bad thing.

The latter half of the album noticeably picks up in memorability, primarily due to the higher saturation of songs that break away from the tried and tested Pulled Apart By Horses punk rock generics. ‘What’s Up Dude’ and ‘Brass Castles’ are notable standouts as the pace is interspersed with minute breaks of sound which add something that the ear can pick up and notice as opposed to a continuous undifferentiated line of sound. The more interesting songwriting also brings the drumming up to something that shines through as well, as Tommy Davidson stands out more and brings a reawakening injection of rock n roll energy into the mix.

Overall, The Haze is a good album that continues the mature songwriting approach that Blood had engineered, but the the first half of the album is fatigue inducing to the point that it severely hinders the gems that hide in the back. Pulled Apart By Horses have written some great songs, great songs that will undoubtedly shine through their career, but they’ve also managed to write some songs that sit well below par, almost like a weird roller coaster of attention that sends you down an exhilarating slope for three minutes then trundles along a plateau for another ten.