Album Of The Week-Night Horse-"The Dark Won't Hide You" (2008)

The Album Of The Week is "The Dark Won't Hide You" by Night Horse.



Review:

You got to admire it: it is not easy to make a CD that so obviously refers to music from forty years ago and avoid it from sounding old-fashioned. That is just what Night Horse have done on their debut ‘The Dark Won’t Hide You’. Clearly very retro, inspired by white blues made by people and bands like John Mayall, (Peter Green’s) Fleetwood Mac and early hardrock such as Taste and Sir Lord Baltimore, but also with a sound that reminds of grunge.

If you are a fan of such Music, Tee Pee Records is the record company for you. The label has many psych/rock acts like Earthless, Graveyard, Titan and Witch signed and now they have added Night Horse to the roster. And as they say: good things come fast. The band was started in January 2008 and already in October their First album has been released. Alright, it is a short one, only six tracks in 33 minutes, but in that short period we get a lot of Real Rock ‘n’ Roll. Blues based hardrock is not ultra cool and hip Music, so you won’t be able to fill large concert halls, unless you have a long beard and your band is called ZZ Top. Not completely fair, this comparison, as Night Horse is not as stale and campy as the well-known trio from Texas. Their sound is much fuller and bigger. For an important part this can be explained by the fact that Night Horse is a quintet, with as its main attraction the guitar duels fought out each track by the tandem of Justin Maranga and Greg Buensuceso. The Allman Brothers are never far away – to drop another name.

The gentlemen of Night Horse will never win the originality price and the price per minute ratio could be better as well, but what makes this album interesting is its great sound. Without any doubt Night Horse should thank the engineer they hired, Mathias Schneeberger, who used to do his magic for illustrious and particularly different bands like Sunn O))) and Burning Witch. It is because of this good production that ‘The Dark Won’t Hide You’ is not the umpteenth, quickly forgotten bluesrock release of the year. (Jan Simon, Lords Of Metal)

Track Listing:

01. Don't Need Your Lovin'
02. The Dark Won't Hide You
03. Wicked Love
04. Shone on Me
05. Worried Life Blues
06. For You (Greg's Lament)

Bio

MySpace

Beware the Night Horse

Tradition lies deep in the music of Los Angeles rock and roll group Night Horse, which features members of dirge soundscapists Ancestors and the vocal styling of Sam James Velde, formerly of explorative and adventurous rockers Bluebird. Night Horse bring a saddle bag full of heavy, raw and riffed-out blues-tinged rock steeped in the likes of John Lee Hooker, Taste, Peter Green`s Fleetwood Mac, and The Allman Brothers Band without a retro stitch. Night Horse rein in the past with a firm heel in the present, galloping next to such like-minded contemporaries as Harvey Milk, Down, and Priestess. Delivering heavy testimonials harnessed with a twin lead guitar assault, Night Horse join hands with these brothers in arms.

Night Horse began in late January 2008. Their early rumblings could be heard through the moniker "The Mother Fucking Razorbacks," a name that Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead coined after meeting them in front of Hollywood`s esteemed landmark, the Hustler store. The band had come together to feed their collective hunger to play straight forward rock n roll music. Night Horse, who were actively seeking out the perfect front man found just that in Sam James Velde. After having disbanded Bluebird and spent the past few years developing his eclectic record label Cold Sweat Records, Sam was eager to rejoin the ranks of the rock n rollers. The meeting was set and the collective love for all things `rock n roll` was channeled. The five-piece bonded over a common love of bands like the Alice Cooper Group, early Aerosmith, Van Halen, Sir Lord Baltimore, and ZZ Top.


Night Horse debuts six sonic hymns this fall under the title The Dark Won`t Hide You on North Atlantic Sound/Tee Pee Records. Look for them on tour and in a record store near you in October 2008.