According to Nordic folklore, a ‘Helhorse’ is the bringer of death or destruction. It’s an apt name for this six-piece, whose stoner-punk thunders like the Riders Of Rohan across grass seas.
Helhorse deals almost exclusively in weighty grooves and no-frills riffs that emerge from thick slabs of sludge. It means gospel touches at the end of No Fucks Given and blues ballad Fortune Favours The Bold are unexpected, yet successful, steps out of the comfort zone, but otherwise the album chugs along monstrously.
Amid the Sabbath-inspired riffery of Blood Boiler and My Haven/Your Hell, the bellow of Mikkel Wad Larsen is a startling element of the concoction. The album could have forgone three superfluous interludes of clanking background noise (I, II and III) which interrupt the momentum of an otherwise hard-hitting collection. If you like massive, rib-cracking riffs the size of Thor’s balls, this is right up your street.
