Sugar Horse - The Grand Scheme Of Things (Album Review)

Release Date: October 04th 2024. Record Label: Pelagic Records. Format: CD/Digital/Vinyl

The Grand Scheme Of Things - Track Listing:

1.The Grand Scheme of Things

2.The Shape of ASMR to Come

3.Corpsing

4.Mulletproof

5.Spit Beach

6.New Dead Elvis

7.Jefferson Aeroplane Over the Sea

8.Office Job Simulator

9.Space Tourist

Members

Ashley Tubb (Vocals/Guitar)

Jake Healy (Baritone Guitar, Keyboards)

Chris Howarth (Bass)

Martin Savage (Drums)

Review

UK Rock/Metal Experimentalists Sugar Horse return with their second full length album The Grand Scheme Of Things. The band have been quite productive with singles, EP’s and split releases over the years and they’ve created and defined their own style of Doom, Prog Metal, Sludge and Experimental sounds which they’ve managed to capture on this record with highly intriguing results.

The album may even test the limits of their dedicated and loyal following with it’s grand style of Alt Rock and Post Doom which shine a torch on bands such as Deftones for the first few tracks of The Grand Scheme Of Things, The Shape Of ASMR To Come and Corpsing. As Sugar Horse conjures bittersweet Doom and Post-Rock melodies with soaring Ambient rhythms to match. With echoes of BORIS being a slight musical influence for this part of the album with Sugar Horse adding gloomy and thoughtful lyrics that spring into life thanks mainly down to Ashley Tubb’s superb Alt Rock inspired vocals. 

So far, so good, right. Well, not quite. As Sugar Horse change musical delivery for the better in my humble opinion as a dark sense of humour comes into play with the band taking a MELVINS style SLEDGEHAMMER to the album and merging it with a surreal creative tone on tracks such as Mulletproof and Spit Beach. The uplifting energy of the opening tracks has given way to a darker tone where the heaviest and gloomiest sounds appear that has moments of Screamo, Sludge Metal, Post-Hardcore and Blackened Metal vibes.

This seems Sugar Horse is fuelled by a desire to offer the twisted and nastiest rhythms on the whole album and perhaps what they’ve released to date which feels like from a totally different band. The album delivers a nasty and unpleasant sound that feels like THE MELVINS possessed by THE DEVIL himself. The down-tuned sludgy guitars have moments of Harsh Vocals or Cookie Cutter Vocals that could be quite intense for some. 

Fifth Spit Beach has small moments of the uplifting nuanced moments from the opening three tracks but this is drowned out by the nightmarish Blackened Sludge Metal sounds that can be quite GRINDCORE based at times but is always exciting to fully hear and be apart of.

Sixth track New Dead Elvis continues with a jagged experimental Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock sound that’s spliced with that harsh Sludge Metal attitude with outbursts of Sludgecore and Psych Metal with Ashley’s vocals drifting from clean vocals to the heavier screamo growls that can be quite unsettling to hear at times. 

The next two tracks of Jefferson Aeroplane Over The Sea and Office Job Simulator allows Sugar Horse bleak sense of humour to take centre stage with the music superbly combining the finer and melodic strands of Post-Rock and Post-Doom before the chaotic Sludge Metal grooves appear to add a destructive force of nature to this part of the album. 

The final track of Space Tourist is twenty four minutes long and features dreamlike Ambient Post-Rock textures with a subtle Space Rock delivery. The vocals can be slightly off-key in places but works surprisingly well with the style of music that Sugar Horse creates here. The song drifts into heavier Drone Metal exploration with the music not changing very much but the everlasting use of Psych and Ambient melodies once again allows the album to end on a more hopeful feeling.

The Grand Scheme Of Things isn’t going to be for everyone with Sugar Horse creating an uncompromising and highly original album that will no doubt get people talking within the Doom/Sludge Metal scene. However, if you’re looking for an album that dares to be different and offer a different sounding style of Experimental Doom/Sludge Metal then Sugar Horse are the band for you. I loved every twisted moment.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Pelagic Records for the promo.

The Grand Scheme Of Things will be available to buy on CD/Digital/Vinyl via Pelagic Records from Friday October 04th 2024.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Doomgaze quartet Sugar Horse reveal new single 'Office Job Simulator' From Upcoming New Album The Grand Scheme Of Things

UK quartet Sugar Horse tackle power imbalance with brooding single 'Office Job Simulator', taken from their new album Grand Scheme Of Things, to be released 4th October via Pelagic Records. The band have also announced a co-headline UK / EU tour with UK post rock mavericks Pijn and Hippotraktor in October and November.

Watch the video to 'Office Job Simulator' here: https://youtu.be/9vA86Qli06w

Stream the single and pre-order the record here: https://li.sten.to/officejobsimulator

Vocalist / guitarist Ashley Tubb commented on the single: "Now people that know me definitely wouldn’t describe me as a supporter of the British monarchy….however…a few months after the death of my father, The Queen died. First of all I wasn’t bothered by this…then after about two straight days of non-stop press coverage it started really getting to me. Why does this random woman deserve weeks of non-stop press coverage and faux-outpourings of 3rd hand grief, when regular everyday people (like my dad) are more or less ignored. Life carries on as if nothing has happened. It’s kind of disgusting to me in a way. The imbalance of power. Think of this as our comrades call to arms."

'Office Job Simulator' is the third single taken from the upcoming new album, following the release of 'The Shape Of ASMR To Come' and 'New Dead Elvis'.

Catch Sugar Horse, Pijn and Hippotraktor on the following dates:

24/10 Ghent - Wintercircus
25/10 Paris - Glazart
26/10 Maastricht - Samhain Festival (no Hippotraktor)
27/10 Neunkirchen - Stummsche Reihalle
28/10 Jena - Rosenkeller
29/10 Berlin - Neue Zukunft
31/10 London - Downstairs At The Dome
01/11 Damnation Festival (no Pijn)
02/11 Damnation Festival (Pijn only)
02/11 Cardiff - The Moon (no Pijn)

On new album Grand Scheme Of Things, Sugar Horse comment: "This album was intended to be a sideways step. A move away from the kind of thing that is expected of us… if anything is at all. What I mean by that, is the songs are more direct. They take a much shorter amount of time to “get to the point”. We also wanted to make this one noticeably “less Metal”. While we love being a bit boneheaded and confrontational, we definitely wanted to explore the more melodic, song-based side of the band’s sound. Normally you’d see shortened song structures and more singing and think “Oh these guys are going for gold….they wanna get on the radio and make millions of bloodstained pounds.” Well…you’re very much entitled to think that if you wish, but it felt like more of a songwriting challenge than anything else to be honest. We’ve done the whole drawn out, endless Space Rock thing a good few times now and it would’ve been easy to rest on those laurels. Do something we’re comfortable with. Alas, that is not really the point of this band. We’d much prefer to make it difficult and take the long route."

Grand Scheme Of Things follows Sugar Horse's titanic split 7'' with new labelmates LLNN, and previous EP Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico. An epic and ambitious achievement, Truth... is, in signature Sugar Horse style, one single long song: a meditation and exploration of everything the note A has to offer.

Sugar Horse have recently toured with LLNN, and previously with post-rock luminaries 65daysofstatic across Europe, as well as dates with Pianos Become The Teeth, Liturgy, Chat Pile and an appearance at ArcTanGent festival.

A lot of people take the name Sugar Horse to be a drug reference - perhaps fitting for a band that sound like the last moments of a three-day binge. Darting wildly between dark/light, pain/bliss, sacred/profane, Sugar Horse are unpredictable and unrestrained.

Formed in what is now considered to be the utopian dreamscape of 2015, the band grew slowly at first. Far from fully formed, but steadily gaining limbs, heads and vital organs. Finally, 2019’s DRUJ followed swiftly by 2020’s DRUGS saw them hit on a relentless stride of eclectic releases that simultaneously confused and entranced audiences.

2021 saw the band encamp in a former Lutheran church to record their debut album, The Live Long After, releasing it via Brighton’s own Small Pond Records. Publications such as The Quietus describing the record as “shift[ing] dispositions fluidly, taking elements of extreme aggression alongside floaty Post-Metal” and Echoes & Dust calling it “a monumental achievement”. The album took every disparate element that Sugar Horse previously employed and amplified them, while juxtaposing each next to each other, with genuinely unpredictable and exciting consequences.

2022 saw no relent from the band’s fast paced release schedule, as they put out an anthemic shoegaze single in 'Pictures Of Dogs Having Sex', followed swiftly by their collaborative Waterloo Teeth EP. A release that paired Sugar Horse’s terrifying eclecticism with guest appearances from twelve other artists in just four short(ish) songs. Each artist coming from a different area of the modern British music scene, whether that be world conquering post-punk bass lines from IDLES’ Adam Devonshire, heavy titans Conjurer and Pupil Slicer’s throat crippling wails, or a shredding guitar solo from Biffy Clyro/Oceansize axe wielder Mike Vennart. The EP packs in an album’s worth of genre mutilating twists and turns into just 25 minutes of music.

Sugar Horse are:

Ashley Tubb (Vocals/Guitar)
Jake Healy (Baritone Guitar, Keyboards)
Chris Howarth (Bass)
Martin Savage (Drums)

For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/sugarhorseruinedmybirthday
https://www.instagram.com/sugarhorse.are.awful
https://twitter.com/sugarhorse666

Track list:

1 The Grand Scheme Of Things

2 The Shape Of ASMR To Come

3 Corpsing

4 Mulletproof

5 Spit Beach

6 New Dead Elvis

7 Jefferson Aeroplane Over The Sea

8 Office Job Simulator

9 Space Tourist

Thanks to Hold Tight PR for all of the info.

Sugar Horse - The Live Long After (Album Review)

Release Date: August 27th 2021. Record Label: Small Pond Records.  Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

The Live Long After - Tracklisting

1.I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been... 01:49

2.Shouting Judas At Bob Dylan 05:01

3.Fat Dracula 03:36

4.Phil Spector In Hell 08:06

5.The Live Long After 08:00

6.Terrible Things Are Happening As We Speak 06:03

7.The Great British Death Cult 06:07

8.Dadcore World Cup 08:49

9....A Las Vegas Showgirl 09:12

Members

Drums - Martin Savage

Bass - Chris Howarth

Baritone Guitar, Keyboards, Synths, Gruff Shouting - Jake Healy

Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals - Ashley Tubb

Strings (Dadcore World Cup) - Mari & Craig Campbell

Fart Library - Andy Hawkins

Review

UK Weirdo Sludge Rockers Sugar Horse is a very hard band to describe. The band move across different styles of Hard Rock and Metal whilst ignoring the rules and genre conventions of whatever style they use. Their debut album The Live Long After is a LOUD, RAUCOUS, BOLD and EXTREMELY NOISY AFFAIR. Sugar Horse use elements of Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock, Post-Metal, Doom Metal and Sludge Metal for a muscular style of music with the majority of this album being mostly experimental. Shades of OCEANSIZE come to mind for this album when they start moving between the quieter moments of Post-Rock sounds to the more frantic atmospheric sludge parts of the album.

Maybe Sugar Horse take a Melvins based approach with how the music is put together or even BORIS to some respects but there’s a lot to breakdown on this album especially with songs such as: Shouting Judas At Bob Dylan, Fat Dracula, Phil Spector In Hell, The Live Long After and the gloriously ridiculously titled Dadcore World Cup.

I’m still not fully sold on the glitches and different breakdown beats this album contains but there is a method to the madness contained on this album. It does add an uncomfortable feeling in places but one that allows the band to elevate their overall sound onto a deeper and threatening level.

Another welcome aspect to this record is the shoegaze elements which is the strongest part of the album and acts as the “GLUE” that holds everything together. The vocals are a mixture of harsh growls, clean and screamo vocals. 

The production is superbly handled and allows Sugar Horse to shine on their own creative merits. The album is always forward thinking and the songs sound strikingly different to each other. If you’re in the mood for an experimental album that focuses on both the melodic and heavier grooves then Sugar Horse is most definitely worth checking out.

The Live Long After is an essential release and could mark the arrival of a very important band within the UK Experimental/Doom/Sludge Metal scene. 

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp