ALBUM REVIEW: Greyfell - "Horsepower"

By: John Reppion

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 12/01/2018

Label: Argonauta Records |

Atypeek Music

“Horsepower” is an interesting and accomplished album – a wonderful piece of doomy, gloomy, ritual rock – which should please fans of Greyfell’s previous work, and no doubt introduce many new listeners to the band.

“Horsepower” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). The People's Temple

2). Horses

3). No Love

4). Spirit of the Bear

5). King of Xenophobia

The Review:

Normandy's Greyfell are in their sixth year of existence, and 2018's “Horsepower” is their second full length release (following 2015's “Vol. 1: I Got the Silver”). The entirely non-cheesy, yet nevertheless somehow retro rock-swagger of the first album endures, but the production and atmosphere of “Horsepower” are quite different to those of its predecessor; there’s something darker, bleaker, yet more polished and deliberate about this record, something that calls to mind the ambience, if not the actual sounds, of chilly1980s post-punk and pre-industrial.

“People’s Temple’s” droning gothy keyboard sounds are, fittingly, our introduction to “Horsepower”. Greyfell’s riffs are still big and fuzzed out with that same subtle eastern influence, but the desolate reverb soaked vocals, and the ever present whistle and wheeze of those keys set the scene – the agenda, really – for the rest of the record. They are the aural equivalent of the murk from a fog machine; adding intrigue and atmosphere to the phantom stage on which “Horsepower” is performed.

“Horses” starts out sparse and slow - fuzzy feedback and warping keys behind diving yet simple bass and drums – but gets progressively more aggressive and noisy. “No Love’s” Killing Joke-eque reverb bass intro becomes something much more bludgeoning. The dynamics remain the same – wide open echoing choruses and bigger, heavier verses. It works well, and it’s the template for the album.

Almost from its first note “Spirit of the Bear” proclaims itself to be the hugest, heaviest, most epic thing on “Horsepower”. Vocally, at times, it’s a bit like Simon Le Bon joined Godflesh. But in a good way. “King of Xenophobia” is doomier than all that’s gone before. The track feels like its about to go “full goth” somewhere around mid-way, but canters back around to its big riff which is eventually swallowed whole in the hungry fog of the ever-present keys.

“Horsepower” feels a lot like a first album and, while it’s not a gigantic departure, it’s oddly hard (for me, at least) to reconcile it with what Greyfell have released previously. It is not a direction I would have anticipated the band going in, but that’s surely no bad thing.

While the album has a very deliberate, well crafted atmosphere of its own, I feel like there are times when it robs individual tracks of their identity – the sounds and dynamics of “Horsepower” are so consistent throughout that there is a very real danger of the dreaded spectre of “samey-ness” rearing its head. That said, “Horsepower” is an interesting and accomplished album – a wonderful piece of doomy, gloomy, ritual rock – which should please fans of Greyfell’s previous work, and no doubt introduce many new listeners to the band. 

“Horsepower” is available to buy on CD via here and LP via here

Band info: Facebook || Bandcamp