HORSEBASTARD – Horsebastard

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7.0

• Bands:
  HORSEBASTARD
• Duration: 00:20:00
• Available from: 11/26/2024
• Label:

• Jungle Noise Records

Streaming not yet available

As was widely expected, Horsebastard's new album of the same name, out on the Italian Jungle Noise Records, is an authentic explosion of sonic fury, a full-throttle race that perfectly embodies that “equestrian blastcore” that the band has ironically chosen as a label for your proposal. Coming from the fertile grind/hardcore scene of Liverpool and Leeds, the quartet forcefully reaffirms their leading role in the scene, offering a work that is, at the same time, a manifesto of coherence and proof of dedication to chaos as it moves between grindcore, powerviolence and good old hardcore punk.
From the opening of the album, the listener is catapulted into a vortex of speed and unpredictable dynamics that avoid any attempt at compromise or accessibility: the songs, almost all lasting a few tens of seconds, follow one another like discharges of paroxysmal intensity , with rhythmic surges and sudden changes that reveal a high-level technical preparation, beyond the essentiality and the underlying provocative attitude. One of Horsebastard's main strengths lies in their ability to manage apparent chaos with surgical precision, which soon belies any impression of disorderly spontaneity. Each piece, although to say the least short in duration, appears constructed with remarkable attention to detail, between ups and downs and micro variations that forcefully invite you to listen again. It is in fact a work to be listened to with headphones, allowing yourself to be submerged by the avalanche of sound and trying to grasp the subtleties that emerge beneath the surface of the chaos.
Having said that, it is difficult to ignore that a work of this kind functions above all as an experience to be lived in one breath: the absence of respite, if on the one hand enhances the intensity of the work, on the other can generate a sense of saturation towards the middle of the tracklist, where the tracks tend to merge into a truly convulsive continuum. The English, however, demonstrate that they know their limits well and know how to insert, towards the end, a couple of slightly more structured episodes, which, while not breaking the general coherence, offer a barely mentioned breather, useful for refocusing the enjoyment and to provide some more concrete support for the listener (see the sludge ending of “Corybantic Idioglossia”).
As per tradition for the genre, the ideal dimension to fully appreciate the group's sound remains the live one: on stage, its music becomes an all-encompassing experience, amplified by the energy and irreverence that the quartet brings to the stage. In that context, the album turns out to be more of a manifesto, a declaration of intent that captures the band's rebellious and unbridled spirit.
For some, everything could always be excessive, but for Horsebastard, this is precisely the point: to bring the listener to the limits of rejection and remind him, with a good dose of sarcasm, that certain extreme music is also and above all a act of freedom.