Horseback: The Gorgon Tongue: Impale Golden Horn + Forbidden Planet (Relapse, 5/10/11)
Horseback: “The Golden Horn”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-Golden-Horn.mp3|titles=Horseback: “The Golden Horn”]Dark psychedelic-drone band Horseback‘s new album is a combination of its 2007 ambient odyssey, Impale Golden Horn, and the new, previously cassette-only Forbidden Planet LP from 2010. Together, the records showcase the band’s sonic duality.
The first half, as this week’s MP3 Premiere shows, is restrained, almost delicate. “The Golden Horn,” a sedate rumination on a simple piano melody, sounds ancient and weary — like an alien communication breaking through the desolate static fuzz of outer space. The second half takes a more aggressive tack with muddled death-metal vocals and hypnotic, finger-tapped guitar riffs. The lack of drums is disquieting; it’s as if the band is content to live perilously on the edge, with the ever-present threat of a sonic free-fall nipping at its heels.
The Gorgon Tongue: Impale Golden Horn + Forbidden Planet is out May 5 on Relapse.