YETI ON HORSEBACK

YETI ON HORSEBACK     "Traditional Addictions"

By Dr. Abner Mality

I gotta admit, the band name catches your attention. Too bad that's where the originality ends. I suspected that with that name, they might be doom and boy, are they ever. It is mentioned that they draw inspiration from SLEEP, YOB, ELECTRIC WIZARD and THE MELVINS. I can hear that. They just don't measure up to any of those bands.

Four songs here and they are all long drawn out monsters. It's rare these days when bands prove worthy of epic songs. YETI ON HORSEBACK performs the cardinal sin of being boring. Opening track "Drug Addict" is almost 14 minutes and most of it is the same sludgy riff played over and over and over again. They are trying for miserable, filthy sludge in the vein of EYEHATEGOD and GRIEF and they do have that swampy, dirt-encrusted sound. They just beat it right into the ground. Plus, simple minded lyrics that are either some poor slob yelling "Where are my drugs? I need my drugs!" or a repeated recitation of said drugs doesn't help. There is a way to conjure misery with filth and repetition but Y.O.H. aren't clever enough to pull it off.

"The Mariner's Lament":and "Through With This Flesh" are both just shy of 10 minutes and are marginally better, but not a lot. Repetition of average riffs makes for an unexciting listen. "The Mariner's Lament" was just starting to cook with some wailing leads when it fades out.

Last track "Erotic Ghost Dad" is the longest, but because it changes things up with a variety of riffs and tunings, it actually comes across the best, with moments of real atmosphere. Yet in the end, it is still just too long and my interest fails by the end.

The press sheet calls YETI ON HORSEBACK "the hope of doom". If that's true, we're all in trouble.

YETI ON HORSEBACK