Bloodhorse - Bloodhorse EP (2007)

Hailing from Boston (ew Red Sox), Bloodhorse deliver some mean stoner sludge metal. This EP, clocking in at 35 minutes, is a fine start for the three-piece outfit off the Translation Loss label (who also happen to feature one of my favorite bands, Byla). It recalls almost a blend of Sabbath, Mastodon, early Clutch, and Monster Magnet, that combined with some awesome songwriting could make Bloodhorse a major player in the stoner sludge genre down the road. It's hard to describe the riffs on this album, I guess "infectious" would be the best term, as all of the songs are catchy in a way that stoner sludge/doom often isn't.

There's a lot going on with this record, it's apparent that the guys behind Bloodhorse know what they're doing, they know the type of music they're playing and they know how to give their music a certain spin to make it fresh in a perhaps oversaturated genre. This is definitely worth checking out, even for an EP, and I for one really anticipate what Bloodhorse has in store for the future. The vocal work here is buried in the mix, almost complementary to the music instead of its own element. It reminds me a bit of the singing in Om, except not done in a chanting manner. Included on the EP is a cover of The Who's "Sparks," I've never heard the original but Bloodhorse's version is pretty cool. All in all some cool stuff here.

5/5