Pulled Apart by Horses
I Punched a Lion in the Throat / The Crapsons 7"
Too Pure
By Jose Fritz
Goddamn you bunch of limey pom bastards! Where’s the bloody LP? It’s refreshing to start the year off with some nice Jesus-Lizard jams, but at the same time, the band has only released a total of five songs over two releases. It’s not enough. As the democratically elected representative of that subset of the disturbed individuals that like your band I am here to state for the formal record that we need more.
I’m only working with a two-song single here so I shouldn’t make any broad sweeping judgments about the band. But Jose Fritz does not shrink the fear of fairness or from words like “shouldn’t.” In fact, I’ll make my first presumptuous over-sweeping assessment now: this record is less messy and less lo-fi than their Meat Balloon EP from last year. That growth puts some distance between them and the Blood Brothers whom they have drawn upon strongly as an influence. The irony here is that the digitally released Balloon is lo-fi and the 7” vinyl is hi-fi.
The clarity works for them, now the jagged guitar lines pop out more over the din of the rest of the band making a little sonic space for the vocals. That crowded basement feeling from Meat Balloon is gone. This is not to say they’re not noisy, or less intense. Structurally the band is totally engaged in rhythm and noise. They spurn melody, and defile harmony stacking twitchy guitar noises into thick teetering riffs. The fidelity, if anything has augmented the power of their assault. The deeper dynamic range makes those crushing riffs stand out more.
It’s like which Alfred Hitchcock switched from black and white to color film. His genius and mastery was still there, but now —now the blood was red. Pulled Apart By Horses is undiminished, still compressed and violent. They have made that same leap and are ready to break down, bleed out, lash out and punch someone, even a lion in the throat. But be forewarned, it’s first the lion, then you.
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