Review & Track Premiere: Greyfell, Horsepower
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on January 4th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
[Click play above to stream the premiere of ‘King of Xenphobia’ by Greyfell. Their Horsepower album is out Jan. 12 via Argonauta Records, Soza and Atypeek Music.]
It wasn’t really until the rolling noisefest that closing track “Hervé” became that Greyfell‘s 2015 debut, I Got the Silver Vol. 1 really did anything to portend the band they would be just a few years later. The bulk of that album used more straightforward heavy rock as a foundation for weaving through a couple different styles, from alternative heavy to meaner, more punk-ish fare. Now, the Rouen, France-based outfit make a significant turn of sound with their second full-length, Horsepower, and find themselves aligned to Atypeek Music, Argonauta Records and Soza for the cause, trimming four minutes off the first record’s already manageable 38, and more importantly, delving into rich, headphone-ready progressions of densely-packed, organ-laced heavy post-rock tonal wash, seeming to roll out patiently even when uptempo across five tracks that reach across styles even as they find such solid footing in a molten rhythmic foundation.
Now comprised of the first-name-only lineup of vocalist Hugo, guitarist Clément, bassist Boubakar and drummer Thierry, it’s reportedly the addition of keyboards that allowed this shift to take place, but it’s such a drastic turn of style that one can’t help but read purpose into it. That is, it didn’t just happen one day that somebody showed up to practice with a Korg and made the resonant tones of “Spirit of the Bear” happen. Or if they did, there was definitely some discussion afterward about the direction in which Greyfell were headed as a result. Even with the record preceding, Horsepower carries the feel of a second debut for the freshness of approach it brings from Greyfell, and if, like me, you didn’t hear I Got the Silver Vol. 1 when it came out, Horsepower sets so much of its own context that one wonders if the underlying message isn’t the band casting its songs forward as a true sonic identity for themselves.
The album takes place over two clearly-intentioned vinyl sides, the first comprised of three shorter pieces, the latter of two longer ones, and to hear the fuzz from the guitar of Clément at the start of opener “People’s Temple,” one might think there’s some continuity between the debut and the sophomore outing, but soon enough, the track begins to unfurl its breadth. Hugo‘s vocal approach contributes immediately to the sense of space in the leadoff piece and will persist in doing so throughout the songs that follow on side A, “Horses” and “No Love,” a blown-out effect calling to mind some of Ice Dragon‘s vibe, but subtly engaging a swath of growls and delivery styles that grow into a theme around which the lumbering instrumentalism takes place. He looses a first raw-throated scream circa 4:45 into “People’s Temple” that foretells of some of what “Spirit of the Bear” will have to offer in a mirror at the start of side B, but it’s in the heft of the layers packed into the song itself that the opener makes its major impression.
So even as they embark on exploring these new textures, Greyfell do well to bring a sense of balance to their style. Though shorter, “Horses” is even more melodic and swirls to a thrilling head of chaos before evening itself out near its conclusion, finding resolve in cacophony and not only providing a transition point between “People’s Temple” and the nodding centerpiece “No Love,” but doing so with a purpose of its own as well derived from a tight and linear progression almost imperceptible on first listen but which plays out gracefully nonetheless. “No Love” seems to find even standing but at about 3:30 moves into a section of malevolent whispers backed by atmospheric shouting for maximum creep-out while speaking to a theatrical element the band credits to black metal but could just as easily derive from an art rock influence of one sort or another. In any case, amid the modern prog doom winding riff earlier and the layered melodies of vocals, it’s yet another turn Greyfell pull off ably with Horsepower seemingly as a result of simply having the confidence to make it happen.
One might say the same of how the eight-minutes-apiece pair of “Spirit of the Bear” and closer “King of Xenophobia” function on side B — the first as the most extreme moment on the offering and the latter as the most progressive. Perhaps in part because of the cover art that adorns it, or because of the diversity of aesthetic overall, it’s hard to think of any single moment on Horsepower as being “dark,” but if anything comes close, it’s “Spirit of the Bear,” which takes a meaner turn first in its chorus and then slows into a semi-blackened doom just past its midpoint en route to even nastier sludgy bombast and roll. The real surprise comes with a chant-style melody tossed in near the finish, and that would seem to be what ties “Spirit of the Bear” most to “King of Xenophobia,” which, while starting off no less languid in tempo, breaks in its verse to a vastness that the more claustrophobic piece before it largely eschewed. As the organ takes on a horror-derived spirit before the four-minute mark, a choral effect surrounds Hugo that denotes the transition into what will be Horsepower‘s final push, lurching to life via drums as a melee of feedback and noise surrounds before the chorus reemerges.
That underscoring of songcraft feels significant particularly in the band’s closing argument, though frankly, with their having made such a leap between I Got the Silver Vol. 1 and this album, I wouldn’t dare predict where they might head after Horsepower. If indeed this is them finding themselves sonically, they’ve done well in hitting on an approach that leaves them room to grow an individualized sensibility while maintaining a core of songcraft — “King of Xenophobia” demonstrates this perhaps most plainly of all — and should they decide to reinvent themselves once more for a third long-player, they’ve no doubt learned some crucial lessons from the experience of putting these tracks together. Either way, mark that a win. From a listener’s standpoint perhaps all the more, since the depths to which Horsepower plunges feature such character and ambient vitality, setting the familiar and the distinct against one another in fluid and cohesive fashion.
