Album Review: Pulled Apart By Horses - 'Blood'

The album cover of Pulled Apart By Horses third record 'Blood' looks like a mix of some trippy seventies photography and a Goosebumps book. The music is just as mixed as opening track Hot Squash explains, sure there is the usual PABH chaotic rock but it's mixed with a blues like groove, as if the Black Keys were on steroids, or Them Crooked Vultures actually made another record.

As the album progresses things even out and fall back into a sound similar to which we would expect from the group, albeit with a little more melody, Lizard Baby for example is raw and grated but with some extremely catchy ending lines. You Want It continues this trend, fast paced rock with simple catchy melodies, but around the mid-way point, Hello Man is a stand out, the instrumentation comes to the plate with riffs as memorable as any vocal line, plus fantastic dynamics between the verse and chorus lines that jump seamlessly.

The production is perfect for this record, a gentle balance between rough around the edges and a clear, defined sound is found which manges to capture the intricacies of the songs, as well as the band's energetic live presence. The fast paced punk rock of Bag Of Snakes lets the energy of the record hit a high point before things simmer down slightly to a more indie rock vein in Outahead.

The record moves back to its blues rock beginning near the end with the smoky and driving Weird Weather, another standout thanks to its laidback feel and classy riffage. Things close down on Golden Monument, an explosion of full toned riffs and vocals that drag out and sound like an early Smashing Pumpkins album.

The second of half of the record in particular keeps things interesting, by being diverse, and maintaining enough memorable elements in each of the songs to make choosing favourites a tricky task.

Pulled Apart By Horses have shown some range here, they may be three albums in but 'Blood' seems like the right time to be taking some more notice of these guys.

1.  Hot Squash

2.  ADHD in HD

3.  Lizard Baby

4.  You Want It

5.  Hello Men

6.  Skull Noir

7.  Grim Deal

8.  Bag of Snakes

9.  Outahead

10.  Medium Rare

11.  Weird Weather

12.  Golden Monument