Pulled Apart By Horses – 'Pulled Apart By Horses' (Transgressive)

So it’s finally here. After 2 years of countless shows, (what seems like) endless touring, and a bunch of singles released on some of the finest UK Indie record labels such as Dance to the Radio and Big Scary Monsters, before landing with Transgressive. From that, Leeds quartet Pulled Apart By Horses have built up a hardcore fan base and finally done the honourable thing for them and got round to releasing their debut LP. Hooray!

Their self titled album on record has shown that they can transfer their incredible live energy onto plastic. Having previously released older versions of ‘Meat Balloon’ and ‘I Punched a Lion in the Throat’, the first full single to feature on this record is the opening track. The aptly titled ‘Back to the Fuck Yeah’ demonstrates Pulled Apart By Horses’ no nonsense, fun loving attitude. A title that even to the unheard listener will indicate that these boys know how to party and it continues in this vein throughout. The mathy time signature and tempo changes on ‘High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive’ is a fine example of how talented musicians they are. ‘Yeah Buddy’ shows that there is a melodic Pop-Punk influence to their sound whilst still maintaining that hardcore edge. Whereas ‘PABH’ climaxes with a seven minute belter in ‘Den Horn’ with heavy metal riffs that are drowned in a sea of feedback and noise.

One thing that may be flawed on this release is that amongst the 11 solid punk gems, they combined new tracks with some older numbers that they wrote early during the bands formation. However, the plus side with this is that it does give us a recorded demonstration of how their live show is portrayed on stage.

Often with debut releases, here PABH’s self titled has ultimately set up a digital platform explaining ‘This is who we are and this is what we do!’ Tom Hudson’s screaming vocals are as consistent as it is flawless. The bass and guitar are tight and rawkuss, with not an off note in hearing and the pounding drums carries their sound to create an album that is set to be one of the house party soundtracks of the summer.

Words: Freddy Rothman