I miss my elderly colleague, Old Man Huck. Things just aren’t the same around here since he retired. Now no one gets my references to 1970s TV shows and obscure toys from the 50s and 60s. He also drew some of the staff’s elder abuse off of me when he’d fall asleep during staff meetings or go on long, rambling tirades about what’s wrong with kids today. As sad as it is to see his empty wheelchair tucked in the storeroom corner next to Swordborn‘s plastic-wrapped corpse office chair, I was thrilled when I saw a new Thunder Horse promo in the sump and knew the old coot wasn’t around to keep me from it. Huck boldly covered the first 2 releases by this Texas-based doom act and was quite taken with their 2021 Chosen One platter. He enjoyed its heavy Sabbath worship filtered through a burly biker doom perspective with sprinkles of classic rock and Crowbar-esque sludge. I was also a big fan, and might have rated it a bit higher than the miserly old sod did. With much anticipation then did I dive into their third album, After the Fall, hoping for another gobsmacking opus full of oppressive riffs and manly machismo.
And that good stuff is indeed present. The opening title track is essentially a continuation of the things I loved about Chosen One, with heavy, 70s-inspired guitars battering away as the band smartly blends the works of Sabbath with sludge and stoner doom. It sounds tough and mean, like what you’d expect to hear at a Hell’s Angels clubhouse right before you got shanked. The fat riffs groove and oppress and out of left-field, the band segues into a very Pink Floydian interlude that feels bright and trippy. It works very well and the song plods and stomps along in a charmingly retro way. And that bluesy guitar work! The “New Normal” uses the same template with enjoyable results, though it’s less dynamic overall. “Apocalypse” features tasty Sabbath-esque swings and sweet harmonies that remind me of the last Pale Divine platter, and standout track “Aberdeen” is everything I want from Thunder Horse. It’s a kind of epic biker doom piece with grit, spit, and grease stains, merging classic doom idioms with a rougher stoner vibe and classic rock elements to arrive at a sweeping soundscape. It’s both hyper-masculine and emotive and it just works.
Sadly, the back half of After the Fall is less impressive. “Monolith” feels like a crude, reductive version of what the better moments offer, and its rudimentary nature feels under-baked. There’s some tasty guitar work tucked in the back end but it isn’t enough to rescue the song. “The Other Side” takes some risks, blending Pink Floyd-isms with something like Lake of Tears and it ends up a slick, engaging tune, but “Inner Demon” is like a brain-dead caveman take on Saint Vitus’ classic cautionary tale of alcohol abuse, “Dying Inside.” The lyrics feel ham-fisted and juvenile, undercutting the serious nature of the message. At just shy of 40 minutes, After the Fall feels like a showcase of the best and worst of what Thunder Horse are all about. The beefy, badass heavy doom style is an effective weapon, but the songwriting is inconsistent, swinging from great to average. I want to love the album, but some of the songs hold it back.
I do love the guitar playing by T.C. “Bird” Connally and Stephen Bishop. They bring an intoxicating blend of 70s hard rock, proto-doom and blues to the table and a lot of what they do reminds me of Wino’s body of work across the decades as well as Saint Vitus’ Dave Chandler and Victor Griffin’s solo work. The big grooves are like nerve tonic and those jammy, 70s-inspired solos are spun gold. Bishop has a great hoarse bellow too, somewhat akin to Orange Goblin’s Ben Ward, and he gives the music a rustic, rough-hewn edge. Dave Crow’s 12-string bass is ever-present and adds a massive low-end heft to the proceedings, popping and twanging away. There’s talent to spare, and the sound is first-rate. It’s the subpar writing that shoots them in the foot this time out.
I was quite enthused to get my hands on After the Fall, and there are some excellent cuts to be uncovered, while the album as a whole is solid enough. I wanted it to be so much more though. I’m a believer in what Thunder Horse do and I hope for a sizeable bounce back next time. Maybe that olde bastard Huck jinxed me. And after I said all those nice things about him too. Fuck him and the Thunder Horse he rode off on!
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 1411 kbps
Label: Ripple Music
Websites: thunderhorse.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/thunderhorseofficial
Releases Worldwide: July 21st, 2023
