Blackout - The Horse

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Stoner/Doom (or as they identify, “Bummer Party Metal”) Metal trio BLACKOUT formed in New York City, USA, in 2011. Concerning the new album here from their Facebook page, “On one fateful day in July 2016, with a handful of mushrooms and a bottle of tequila, vocalist/guitarist Christian Gordy set out to write an entire new BLACKOUT record. Following the departure of original drummer Taryn Waldman earlier that year, the band’s fate was uncertain. But, Gordy’s writing foray resulted in a wellspring of inspiration and by happenstance he contacted drummer Adam Taylor who had just parted with his band GHOST PUNCH. Within two months of banging out riffs with bassist Justin Sherrell, BLACKOUT was back in action.” “The Horse” contains eight new tracks.

“Graves” leads off the album. Fuzzy feedback creates a distorted and dissonant entrance. A hypnotic and hulking riff lumbers in, and trippy vocals occupy an echoing landscape in the background. “Let em Ride” is a seven minute bruiser that is mostly sluggish and torpid, with a doomy BLACK SABBATH type sound. It lingers like smoke in a room with no windows, permeating your consciousness. “Rat Spirit” is much shorter, but still has that heavy impact from the “mastodonian” riff that clears trees and pummels the earth like an asteroid falling from the sky. “Holy Wood” is a six minute mercenary that has a dirty and weighted riff that reminds me of some of the early work of BLACK FLAG, considering some of their slower songs which can be agonizing in scope.

“Mean Pads” is the third of three shorter songs on the album, which is unusual for the genre. In fact it is so short that it was somewhat hard to settle into a groove that you could lick your chops to. The eight minute title track, “The Horse,” closes the album. It moves with a vortex that is like a black hole consuming all matter in its path, leaving a void of nothingness behind. A novice could mistake the loose and lackadaisical sound for poor musicianship but if you do, you are missing the point. The trippy and mesmerizing effect is what results from the hammer of doom punishing you over and over. BLACKOUT is an appropriate named band for the kind of music presented on “The Horse” that just sucks the life out of your soul. When it is all gone and you look around at a barren wasteland, you realize in the end that you already had one foot in the grave the entire time.

Songwriting: 7
Originality: 7
Memorability: 7
Production: 6