By Matt Walker, April 2008

Deep in the Woods, High Wheel Records

Apparently Dragged by Horses have described themselves as sounding like a “violent orchestra” and “natural disaster,” and the press release that accompanied the album backed up these claims promising “insane energy,” “well-designed chaos” and “heavy, sharp and intelligent tracks.”

With slightly raised expectations and piqued curiosity, I was hoping for a nice surprise from this California trio. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pick up on the promised insanity, chaos or intelligence here. When I realized this band wasn’t going to sound anything like I thought they would, I tried to forget about the press release and just listen to it for what it is, but that didn’t help either.

            It does sound like they intended for all of those descriptions to be true, but they missed the mark. The music is almost-but-not-quite-heavy, with plodding drum beats and low-end riffs, but the music ultimately lacks any real punch. Repetitive and laborious guitar riffs drive the songs before running into disjointed interludes and awkward stops and starts. The guitars often sound thin and inhibited, even in the heaviest parts of the album. And guitarist/vocalist Pablo Midence’s testosterone-heavy yells present us with lines like, “A snail has tracked across your face / It shines” (“Snailshine”), while his meter and rhythm rarely change from song to song.

Ultimately it sounds like Dragged by Horses are attempting to make quirky, heavy and riff-laden songs like Washington’s Federation X, but they just come up short in every respect.