by Jordan Michael (@jordwhyjames)
There is an amalgam of ominous, sludgy, and clandestine releases this year. From the legendary resurgence of Cave In to the synth and stomp squall of ADULT., from the gigantic riff wave of Thou & Mizmor to the noise attack of forefathers A Place to Bury Strangers, we are feeling the pain and loss of the last two years through the voices of very talented artists. A lot of it is violent, which is mostly appropriate. Just the other week, Chat Pile destroyed the scene with a very heavy album, and well, well, we have Haunted Horses here, serving up a siren call out of Seattle from the Goth Police. I don’t know if we’re being hunted, but it sounds and feels like it.
If Death Grips, Meat Wave and Bambara all fornicated, maybe Haunted Horses would be crying in your arms. Following gloom cloud traditions of noise rock and post-punk —Bauhaus, Swans, Einturzende Neubauten, Killing Joke, The Soft Moon, Uniform, and Gilla Band—and infusing it with some industrial clamor (Big Black, This Heat, and Throbbing Gristle), Haunted Horses is disparity for horror films. It’s industrial punk for the bleeding edge, which currently has a sharp drop off.
Recorded at Electric Wall in Seattle and mastered by These Arms Are Snakes’ drummer Chris Common, The Worst Has Finally Happened is a tangible document to be added to the Three One G family of relevant punk. Possession of a lyric sheet would be helpful as Colin Dawson waxes about the Earth maybe being an abyss over shimmering thunder. “This place is bleak, it’s true” he says on “Window Sung” as drums roll in the din. Later on during the elastic hit “Cold Medicine,” Dawson moans “I spread these pills across my car” before panting like a dog.
Haunted Horses have frequency shaking all around The Worst Has Finally Happened. The punches keep coming, but it is somehow soothing. “Pig” has what seems like a running vacuum underneath; “Thorns” is a structure of falling bricks; and six-minute closer “Severed Circle” is quivering electro with a veil of light and a delicate ride cymbal.
These Seattle thoroughbreds named their last album Dead Meat, and it seems as if they have found another auspicious title for our current tribulation. Regardless of the band’s influences, Haunted Horses’ ugly psychedelic soul is nothing to gawk at.