Troubled Horse-Step Inside

Metal Blade/Rise Above
2012

In case you were asking yourself "does Metal Mark read a band's bio before listening to an album? "Well, the answer is almost always no, I don't. I listen to an album first and then check the bio and background information before or while I'm writing the review. I do it in this order to avoid getting any pre-conceived notions. Enough dull background rant, anyways last night I brought up this album to listen to without knowing who they were or even the style although knowing that Rise Above was involved let me know it was likely doom or stoner rock of some sort. Probably about a minute into the opener I was thinking that these guys sound a lot Witchcraft if they listened to more MC5 and say some late 60's influences as well instead of just the early70's proto metal acts. As the album progressed that thought was just re-enforced. So after listening to the album I checked the attached bio and sure enough this band from Orebro, Sweden does contain within it's ranks three members of the original Witchcraft line-up and bassist Ola Henriksson is still a member. Even if there wasn't the link, the similarities in the music were immediately obvious. The timing, the tones and the pacing were so similar to Witchcraft that comparisons were inevitable. The love of acts like Pentagram, Band and Dust is still present here in much of the music here and they transfer their love of those bands in stellar fashion. What separates this band and early Witchcraft is that the mood on this offering isn't necessarily more upbeat, but it's not as dark. Perhaps they let their grooves show a bit more and moving forward seems to be more of a focusthan just being heavy. Now don't let those observations bother you. If you like early 70's proto-metal pioneers you should like this album and if you liked Witchcraft's first two albums you should really like this album as well. Troubled Horse did a fine of conveying the vibe of music that has influenced them, but they have enough talent and ideas to begin to put some of their stamp onto their creations. This album pleased me greatly and I know that I'll be giving it some regular spins in the upcoming weeks.