Blunt Horse - With Teeth (Album Review)

Release Date: April 25th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

With Teeth - Tracklisting

1.Teeth 08:28

2.The Grand Bizarre 07:27

3.Mind Raker 05:43

4.Buried in Significance 09:43

5.Eniccav 09:28

Members

Mike Dee - Bass

BG Drakeley - Drums

Clay Oboth - Guitars

Review

I last featured Sludge/Stoner Metallers Blunt Horse back in July 2021 when I reviewed their split record with Grilith and I was mightily impressed by their slight experimental style of Heavy Rock. Fast forward five years and the band finally return with their debut album With Teeth which is another exquisite slice of Sludge/Stoner Metal with slight jazzy and experimental vibes.

Taking influence from the likes of Mutoid Man, Cave In, Melvins, Faith No More and Mastodon throughout the album. The record itself is powered by a great style of progressive melodies and musical tempo changes that moves into an area of cool weirdness which you can experience within the opening track of Teeth.

Blunt Horse create a fascinating style of Sludge Metal which sees strange vocal techniques being delivered throughout and you can detect influences such as James Hetfield, Devin Townsend and Mike Patton starting to emerge. The lyrics are off the chart with a Frank Zappa approach that propels the album into levels of strange absurdity but everything works with Blunt Horse delivering their own great blend of “OUTSIDER” based Sludge/Stoner Metal.

The album is forty minutes long that’s spread across five tracks with Blunt Horse offering a highly original and unsettling ride at the best of times. The music does become more dominated by Progressive landscapes and trippy psychedelic energy which builds up superbly well on tracks such as The Grand Bizarre and Mind Raker.

Blunt Horse play a confident style of slow-to-mid paced grooves which become quite aggressive and fast-paced when the band decide to switch musical tactics for a more violent sound. The “GONZO” and “OFF-BEAT” approach maybe too weird for some but at least the band are playing music that’s vastly different and brilliantly surreal especially on the later stages of the record mostly on songs such as Buried In Significance and Eniccav. 

With Teeth is a record with genuine “CULT APPEAL” and Blunt Horse offer no apologies for delivering that unique style of music. If you like your music that’s quite multi-layered and perhaps even with a schizophrenic delivery then Blunt Horse are most definitely the band for you to check out. There’s a ton of great riffs, grooves and cool sounding instrumental solos to check out from this hugely talented outfit. 

Production values are excellent as well allowing Blunt Horse the time and space to create something grounded and superbly thrilling at the same time. WIth Teeth is a wonderfully surreal and first rate debut album that I can’t recommend highly enough.

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Blunt Horse / Grilth - Split Album (Album Review)

Release Date: July 16th 2021. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD

Blunt Horse/Grilth Split Release  -  Tracklisting

1.Blunt Horse - Nuke the Blow 05:59

2.Blunt Horse - Radiation Poisoning 00:25

3.Blunt Horse - No Reprise 08:18

4.Grilth - Foul Beast Ahead 09:47

5.Grilth - Crooked Back and Broken Spirit 08:52

Review

What we have here is a split record from New York Doom/Sludge Metallers Grilth and Washington Sludge/Stoner Metallers Blunt Horse. The split record runs for 32 minutes with bands offering a great amount of Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal sounds that are quite different to each other. 

Blunt Horse are up first with their 3 tracks and they have a Mastodon/High On Fire flavour to their sound but inject a much needed slice of Psychedelic Metal into their flavour which then changes their sound to a classic style of 70s Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. Opening song Nuke the Blow is quite experimental in places and has a free-flowing attitude which is backed up by an interesting style of harsh, gruff, clean and volatile vocals. The song is quite raw natured but the music more than makes up for this and it builds up to an exciting finish.

Second song - Radiation Poisoning - is 25 seconds of aggressive noise in the Experimental Drone environment. Mostly filler but some interesting styles of distorted noise within the short running time.

Third song - No Reprise - is an 8 minute plus track that offers aggressive Sludge/Stoner Metal music that Mastodon were known for back in the day and I must say the Thrash Metal parts remind me also of Behold The Monolith. The vocals are different yet again but they get the job done with interesting lyrics to match. This song is parts Proggressive and Experimental so expect a few twists and turns with this track and you’ll have  a hell of time with Blunt Horse.

Griith are up next with their two tracks Foul Beast Ahead and Crooked Back and Broken Spirit. These guys perhaps play the sludgier and gloomier side of the split with their music having a different haunting edge. 

Fourth song - Foul Bast Ahead - is a slow-burning track with an Industrial vibe allowing the band to move at their own pace. This band feels partially inspired by artists such as Author And Punisher with the whole environment being quite mechanical but still bringing a Sludge/Doom Metal atmosphere to the party. Even if that party feels like an “End Of The World” style celebration. Girth have a more “Drone Metal” compared to Blunt Horse and perhaps aren’t as riff-centric but there’s a lot of fun to be had with this dark depressive sound. 

Fifth song - Crooked Back And Broken Spirit - carries on the same journey heard in the previous track with wild experimentation and heavy distorted Industrial sounding Doom/Sludge Metal parts combining for a solidly entertaining. Grilth excel mostly on this track and this remains my favourite song on the entire track as the unforgiving soundclips bring a real sense of foreboding doom to this song and left me wanting more.

Blunt Horse/Grilth Split Record is an excellent way to spend 32 minutes of your day and be introduced to great bands who play different styles of music to each other. It’s what a split record should do. This is my first introduction to Blunt Horse and Grilth and I’m hoping it’s not the last I hear from both bands. 

Words by Steve Howe

Blunt Horse Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Grilth Horse Links:

Facebook | BandCamp