TORSO HORSE �
�FREAKSHOW�
(mini-album/ �NATIVE RECORDS�)
After waiting far too long the wait is over and the hype is justified.
Proving there is life BEFORE death and lethally armed and dangerous with one hell of a 9-track mini-album to write home about, Torso Horse may not have progressed far from a geographical perspective (all members and their barn-full of fun friends still reside on a working farm just outside Bridlington). Musically, however, they have come further than the eye can see and the ear can hear.
The sinister �Intro� is a sampled side-show descent of freakish laughter that breaks into the most exhilarating first song-proper I�ve heard in ages on any album as �In My Head� rages along with a ruddy fantastic backbeat battered out by drummer Gary Double, the hateful genius of the anthem vocally brought to life by singer/ guitarist Adam Towse ranting �I�ve tried to rid myself of this, I�ve tried hard to wash away the hate.�
Torso Horse have � so long as I�ve known them at least � being a band of anthems, with �Every Dog Will Have Its Day� being the most immediately cut above in this collection of 9 tracks, similarly rocking in vein to �Bottom of The Bottle� � though the latter doesn�t appear on �Freak Show� and we�ve got to look forward to a studio recording of that tune on a future release. The beauty part is, the band have only signed a strict �one album� deal with their record company �Native� so they�re free to do as they please, obviously depending on the success of this first official TH release. Already the record company realise they�re onto a good thing having signed these guys and hopefully both entities will get on like France on fire to forge a mutually-beneficial path to fame and fortune through the rock industry.
But I digress� and, likewise, Torso Horse also have the ability to do just that as �Useless� witnesses their most punked-up bad attitudes as the hardcore heaviness reminds of Purple Sticky Punch, Gary�s pummeling drumbeats and loops unpredictably roving and forever-and-ever surprising. Just as surprising, in fact, as the vibrantly hard yet graceful and sweetly eloquent instrumental �Staring at The Ceiling,� the mature and sensitive tune beaming with dark moods bolstered by Steve Jefferson�s essential bass moves that creep under Adam�s made-up skin and melodic guitar scales. I�d give my right artificial limb to write a tune this immediately emotive.
When they first started out they were hardly the most original band on the scene, their image initially being the most striking thing about them. But as they write more and more songs, genuine originality is naturally ebbing into their approach and the bonus track remix of �Butterflies� is essentially a glimpse into the future of their brand of Goth-metal � and this genre of music, period. Gloriously industrial (and re-mixed by the band themselves on a home computer), nothing about this version is shabbily lo-fi or disappointing in quality. The original extreme version of �Butterflies� was stunningly dynamic, and this is a work of art. Forget Goth-metal, this is Gogh-metal� if not far-reaching and genre-defining Prog-metal.
For those fans who still love their Torso Horse tunes fast, frantic and at their most intense � if they haven�t creamed-themselves with excitement over all the other tracks already � still have the blindingly dark �Torture� with Steve�s classy bass intro and overall broody feel reminding of Type O Negative and Cradle of Filth at their best, while �Sick of All of You� will snap your neck in all its bruisingly rampaging, Slipknot-slaying glory.
And even when this trio are heavier than Humpty Dumpty riding the Titanic, there�s miraculously always room for Emo-guitar interludes and raw solos from all members and their instruments in every song.
Returning to �Every Dog�� and its adulation-hungry theme, Adam sings �Every dog has its time � and maybe I�ll have mine.�
This mini-album (just 4 seconds short of officially being a �proper� album), to have an out-of-body experience and to be frank, is the dog�s bollox. And on account of these over-too-soon 29 minutes and 56 seconds, all 3 Torso Horse members are surely guaranteed acclaim for their collective talent - and I wish them the very best of luck. 10/10 (STEVE RUDD)
www.torsohorse.com
E-mail� [email protected]