Simon Rushworth
Pulled Apart By Horses, Sonisphere UK Bohemia Stage, July 9 2011
Pulled Apart By Horses – the name taken from the archaic (or at least we hope) torture in which a person is dismembered by the opposing forces of violently whipped horses.
This Leeds four-piece have been pressing all the right buttons of anything labelled alternative rock, metal and indie resulting in a relatively rapid ascend to fame.
So they’ve got the name and the reputation but do they have the live sound?
Back To Fuck Yeah began their performance with a Deep Purple-influenced, bass driven bombast. There’s something strangely captivating about Pulled Apart By Horses. There’s homage to Sabbath but not in the traditional sense – they’re bridging the gap of indie and metal in the way Helmet tried to but succeeding more by fusing a punk attitude and chaotic bow to QOTSA. Yeah Buddy is their most obvious inclusion of the latter in their set but it wasn’t any drawback by any means.
By far their most bizarrely titled song – I Punched A Lion In The Throat was left till last. The popular hit has whipped them up a storm of positive publicity and previously amid the rebellious noise of Get Off My Ghost Train, some random guy even asked me if they had played “the one about punching a lion in the throat”, to which I responded no. There was much joy that he hadn’t missed it.
Rambunctiously weird conviction doesn’t quite go far enough in describing Pulled Apart By Horses’ commitment to their nutty lyrics and curious sound to match. They’re one of the most exciting newcomers to hit the UK in recent times – we’re looking forward to being pulled apart by the Horses in future.
Calum Robson