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Review & Track Premiere: Horseburner, The Thief

horseburner the thief

[Click play above to stream ‘Drowning Bird’ from Horseburner’s The Thief. Album is out Aug. 9 on Ripple Music.]

Though the inherent energy of their material and the fact that they’re newly signed to Ripple Music read otherwise, West Virginia’s Horseburner are not actually a new band. They played their first show just over a decade ago, and released two EPs before making such a splash with their 2016 full-length debut, Dead Seeds, Barren Soil (review here). That album was picked up for release through Hellmistress Records and subsequent touring and response led to the Ripple signing ahead of The Thief, their second LP and label debut. It’s worth mentioning not only for basic background, because when one listens to The Thief front-to-back, Horseburner‘s chemistry is not that of a new band.

While they recently parted ways with guitarist Zach Kaufman and brought in Matt Strobel to take on the role alongside guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Jack Thomas, drummer/vocalist Adam Nohe and bassist Seth Bostick, the lineup that appears on the nine-song/46-minute The Thief feels wholly solidified in its songwriting approach, taking cues from modern progressive metal, NWOBHM and shades of traditional doom. Thomas‘s vocals remind here and there of Butch Balich‘s work in Argus — thinking of songs like “A Joyless King” and the later “Fathoms,” but it’s a comparison one might make elsewhere too, and not a comparison made lightly — and the winding course of riffing over which he and Nohe harmony-shout is reminiscent of the likes of Leviathan-era Mastodon in its hard edge and obviously considered composition.

Across intense pieces like “Drowning Bird” and “The Fisherman’s Vow,” they manifest crunch and gallop in kind and still set up a smooth-moving flow within and between the songs. It’s fast, and it’s a lot to keep up with, but that’s the idea, and when Horseburner are at a sprint, as on “Hand of Gold, Man of Stone” (premiered here), the effect is righteously head-spinning. Movements within songs mesh well together and take shape as verses and choruses, and as its two-minute titular introduction, and the likewise-timed centerpiece “Seas Between” and closer “Thiefsong” weave an acoustic-based thread throughout all the heft, the feeling of a masterplan at work becomes all the more prevalent.

If Horseburner are telling a story here — and they may or may not be; I haven’t had the benefit of a lyric sheet — then it’s one that sets up across intricately conceived chapters that balance indulgence and creative will against sheer impact of groove, “A Joyless King,” “Drowning Bird” and “The Fisherman’s Vow” separated by “Seas Between” from the side B salvo “Hand of Gold, Man of Stone,” “The Oak” and “Fathoms.” The underlying modus doesn’t necessarily change between the two sections — in fact, I’d argue The Thief is best enjoyed on a linear format so as to get the whole effect of “Seas Between” as the centerpiece without having to worry about a side flip as one would on vinyl — but flourish of proggy guitar interplay and keyboard in “The Oak” and the fact that “Fathoms” is the only song on the record to top eight minutes does speak to a certain amount of branching out, though there’s no question that in the case of the latter, its position as the full-album payoff is purposeful as well.

 

HORSEBURNER new lineup

One imagines that if Horseburner didn’t already know it when they were writing the song, it quickly became clear in the recording process that “Fathoms” would close out ahead of “Thiefsong,” such is the thump with which it lands and the heights to which it soars in its finishing, solo-topped sway. That puts further emphasis on the flow that’s been happening all along throughout The Thief, as all the more it seems “A Joyless King” and “Drowning Bird” are meant to draw the listener into the varied but linear whole-album progression. The short version is it works, and with deceptive subtlety, because as they’re setting up this linear motion, Horseburner are also bashing and crashing through killer chug and hairpin-turn rhythms, stomping through headbang-ready heavy parts and adding more than hints of nuance to deepen the proceedings beyond what might otherwise be “cool riffs, bro.”

Nothing against that, understand, but The Thief is on a different and more complex mission, and the band bear that out in the means by which they maintain both the thoughtfulness of the material and the conversation they’re having with their audience here. Because whatever layering there might be between Thomas‘s keys and guitar, the recording itself is geared toward capturing a live setting. With so much vitality, it could hardly be otherwise. Tracked at Amish Electric Chair Studios and Green Mist Studios respectively by Neil Tuuri (who also mixed) and Thomas himself, there’s no lack of clarity in the offering, and even the most distorted, driving moments have a crispness to them that speaks further to the band’s will to actively engage their listenership, but the balance with raw energy across The Thief‘s span is striking, and it’s exactly that engagement that’s the reason why.

Horseburner want you to get into this album. They make it plain. The Thief is the output of a band who’ve been around for 10 years, have gotten their shit together, built up some momentum and decided to make a real push at having an impact. They sound hungry more than angry, but most of all they sound ready, and that’s true in the brief quiet interlude in “The Fisherman’s Vow” as much as in the fist-pumping early dual-guitar theatrics and subsequent all-out start-stop crunch of “The Oak.” The only question is what that engagement is leading to? If, after 10 years as a band, Horseburner want to hit the road and make a go of selling full-color t-shirts to various US and eventually European cities, I have no doubt in my mind they could pull that off in a fashion that’s at least no more or less sustainable than anyone else doing the same. Time will tell what their goals ultimately are and whether or not they get there, but most importantly, The Thief is a resonant announcement of their arrival, and that is not at all to be missed.

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