Band:	Haunted Horses
Album:	Dweller
Style:	Industrial rock, Noise rock
Release date:	January 10, 2025
A review by:	RaduP

01. Dweller On The Threshold
02. The Spell
03. Grey Eminence
04. Fucking Hell
05. Temple Of The Bone
06. Dweller In The Abyss
07. Destroy Each Other
08. The Seed
09. Fevered Water

Do you want the energy of Chat Pile without the overt social themes? Do you wish they were gothier? Haunted Horses has ya covered.

Yes, that's a very reductive statement to make, because the Venn diagram between the two bands and their appeals is more complex than that, but there's a lot of common ground specifically for people approaching both of them from a metal angle. Both bands trace their lineage to Filth, more or less, even if that influence can sometimes be more indirect, and the way sludge metal-like heaviness can be felt in industrial rock and noise rock grounds at least some of it in metal. Hence why you might find quite a few such acts in our database. I am bringing Chat Pile up specifically not only because they're "in vogue" lately, but because the anxiety inducing effect that the soundscapes of both bands produce. Common ground in the appeal of the listening experience, if you will.

But focusing on the side of the Venn diagram that's specific to Haunted Horses, they're a band that has a bit more stock in sounding industrial than the other noise rock bands. I still wouldn't call them primarily an industrial rock act, because there's not as much of the cold mechanical feeling nor as much of the intense electronica soundscapes, even though these are still present to a significant extent (see "Fucking Hell"), more of the time blending with the punkier bits to sound quite akin to Uniform. The bass is incredibly heavy and prominent, something that works really well in noise rock, especially since the band expanded from a duo to a trio back in 2021 with the addition of a bassist. Dweller is not the first Haunted Horses to be more band-like, but that aspect feels even more organic now than it did on The Worst Has Finally Happened.

Industrial touches aside, Haunted Horses started out with a lot more of a post-punk influence. Even though that diminished with time, Dweller has those influences morph into something more gothic and deathrock inspired. Post-punk drum patterns aside, dark soundscapes aside, the most significant way that these touches are felt are in how the vocal performance operates. "Temple Of The Bone" especially has some baritone crones, as well as some creepy whisper-like yelps, and similarly uncanny things in the vocal performance do give the record a touch of dramatism. Sometimes Dweller is less anxiety inducing, but downright menacing, even apocalyptic.

As unfair as it is to bring up a band that started after Haunted Horses did, to close off the comparison, if Chat Pile sound like they're suffering alongside you in an unfair world, Haunted Horses feel like the menacing oppressing force that is crumbling the world.