Pulled Apart By Horses // Tough Love

January 23rd, 2012

LANDFILL JOURNALISM ALERT! ‘The difficult second album’. Eurgh. There. I said it. I feel so lazy. Can we just move on now?

Well, no we can’t. Yes, it may be a poor excuse for actual critical thinking, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Sophomore releases will always be compared to the blinding (or not so blinding in some cases) debut releases that came before them but, being mostly void of that ‘new band smell/hype/excitement’ those debuts were drenched in, tend to not come off too well when standing next to their musical older brothers. Comparison is the thief of joy, but it has to be done. So, it falls to shouty-shouty post-rock types Pulled Apart By Horses to rise to the challenge. And are they scared? Are they ‘eck!

New album Tough Love opens promisingly enough with lead track and single V.E.N.O.M, a rousing call to arms and a perfect bridge from the Pulled Apart By Horses of old, to the more considered approach of the new. Sorry, did I say considered approach? Yes, some of the songs on the album sound a helluva lot more thoughtful than those of the first record, but this is still a release full of bombastic riffage and larynx shredding vocal delivery, that never takes itself too seriously. ‘You haven’t got the balls’ screams lead singer Tom Hudson on that first song, almost unintelligibly (indeed, that lyrical sample may not be 100% correct) yet in a way that is far too catchy for its tongue in cheek subject matter. Midway through the song, the tempo comes crashing to some half-step heaviness, and we’re treated to the first proper riff storm of the album.

The second track comes in the form of Wolf Hands. Dischord’s current album highlight, the song carries that same ‘never say die’ attitude with aplomb, as Hudson tears words like ‘when I was a kid I was a dick, but nothing changes’ from the deepest darkest recesses of his chest cavity. The off-kilter chorus provides a haunting yet once again strangely catchy main crux for the band to wrap their quick fire guitars and pounding drum beats around. Haunting is perhaps a fitting word too, with most of the tracks on the album seemingly taking their cues from obscure 70s horror movies.

It is unfortunate then that a band as promising and full of life and energy as Pulled Apart By Horses can appear to have succumbed to the constraints of second album life. This is not an entirely bad album, but it doesn’t have the same immediacy or grab as that 2010 debut release. Some tracks – namely mid-album ironic zombie-fest Night Of The Living (I’m Scared Of People) and the chords-and-screaming firecracker of Some Mothers – feel bereft of the high octane energy we’ve come to admire from the band. Add to this the fact they seem to be playing up to their tongue in cheek image, and you’re left with a bunch of songs towards the end of the album that veer dangerously close to self-parody; the hair metal ‘hey heys’ of Bromance Ain’t Dead, or the chugging Nirvana aping guitars and macho chants of Give Me A Reason.

In Tough Love, Pulled Apart By Horses have found themselves to be the latest casualties of ‘the difficult second album’ (there, I said it again!). They must be commended for chucking their all at the damn thing though, and their incendiary live shows are sure to continue to light up the country as they travel up and down it in a couple of weeks time to support the record. We can only hope that this album proves to be something of a grower. But even as it stands, it is still leagues ahead than some of the dreary indie-fluff populating the record collections of music fans the length and breadth of Britain and beyond. Well worth a listen, sure, but just don’t expect the bite and good times of that first album from the off.

Words > Alex Nelson.

Tags: Night Of The Living (I’m Scared Of People), Pulled Apart By Horses, Tough Love, V.E.N.O.M, Wolf Hands