Where genre pigeonholing was once the be all and end all of how a band would be marketed and who it would be marketed to, nowadays the cross-pollination of a myriad of styles means that the more interesting streaks of music are a lot easier to pick up on. Take Horsefight, the London outfit who have been compared to At The Drive In, Black Sabbath and Death From Above, and with a debut album in ‘Eden’ that matches up to such watermarks.

And while that album title may conjure up images of piece and tranquility, that certainly isn’t the case in practice. Rather, Horsefight fall into the same Britrock / post-punk intersection as Future Of The Left, packing in buzzsaw riffs, fuzzed-up bass grooves and squalling vocals that jar in all the right ways. And when you find out that this band contains Paul Mullen, formerly of Northern noiseniks Yourcodenameis:Milo amongst their ranks, it makes all too much sense why tracks like ‘I Don’t Like It’ and ‘Salvia’ are as abrasive yet infectious as they are.

Because make no mistake, ‘Eden’ is the sort of album whose catchiness doesn’t feel ephemeral. There’s lasting power and quality to the loping grind of ‘Stiltskin’ or the almost disco strut of ‘Friends Apart’, not to mention that fact that Horsefight are just far too interesting as a band to let go.

And at the end of the day, that’s really all ‘Eden’ had to be – an entry point for an underground act with something to latch onto. But the fact that Horsefight go the extra mile by actually stacking it full of great songs to boot is testament to what this band have to offer. Definitely ones to keep an eye on here; they’re already this good, so imagine how far they could go.

4/5

‘Eden’ by Horsefight is released on 7th July.

Horsefight links: Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp

Words by Luke Nuttall (@nuttall_luke)