Bloodhorse

Boston trio Bloodhorse are incredibly proud that sophomore effort Horizoner features over an hour of music. To the doom/stoner fan that means a maximized onslaught of intense riffs. To the layman that means it drags on 30 minutes longer than it should. Guess which side of that opinion will probably be the consensus? Blending a modest interest in the virility of thrash metal, yet clearly culled from many years of creeping around basements with Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality spewing out of the turntable, Horizoner is a great chunk of gritty groove. However, Bloodhorse have their collective head way too far up their ass to realize that not every doom metal song needs to bleat on for over six minutes. Sure, it's kind of standard issue but they'd be so much cooler if they broke with tradition. When they get down to brass tacks, as on "Aphrodisiac" and "Close, But Never So," an almost Kittens-esque rage pummelling the Sword comes forth that's engaging and almost unnerving. When these boys realize that they've created their sound and ditch striving for the obvious they'll be wondrous. With Horizoner, they're close but not quite there.