Self-described 'decidedly average', Bristol rockers Sugar Horse have released a new in-studio performance video of current single 'Shouting Judas At Bob Dylan', taken from their long-awaited debut LP, The Live Long After, released 27th August via Small Pond Records.
Lyrically based around the fear of the unknown, The Live Long After is a caustic, visceral, and highly engaging listen. From the uneasy opening notes of the introduction "I Am Not Now"; (an anti-hymn based on an ancient Byzantine chant), to "Live Long"; (a doom track about the endless void) and "Death Cult", (which discusses Aleph, the Japanese doomsday movement), the record is an indication of a band bursting with things to say.
It's not for nothing that Sugar Horse have become known as a nonconformist band. Their previous EPs Druj and Drugs were acclaimed amalgams of doom, hardcore, stoner and punk, and The Live Long After continues this curious trend.
Indications of My Bloody Valentine, Cult of Luna, Deafheaven and Oceansize can be heard throughout the record, but still only touch upon the wide variety of sounds and influences Sugar Horse explore.
A band who were due to tour with Black Peaks before the inevitable Covid disruption, and who have toured with Vennart and played ArcTanGent, Sugar Horse have received early praise from Upset Magazine, Metal Hammer, and Kerrang!.
Forming in 2015 as a trio in a flat in Bristol, Sugar Horse fully came into being in 2019 with the addition of Jake Healy on baritone guitar and keyboards. Seeking to break away from emerging trends in their scene, the band's emphasis on simplicity and down-tempo heft belies an impressive sense of self-awareness and maturity.
In their own words: "I think the best art is formed when its creators enforce rigid rules on themselves. Mondrian had geometry, Mark E Smith had his hatred for cigarette taxation and we have a complete disregard for urgency".
Despite what they say about themselves, Sugar Horse are anything but 'average'.
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