Audrey Horne
Blackout


2.4
average

Review

by Rowan5215 EMERITUS
January 16th, 2018 | 25 replies


Release Date: 2018 | Tracklist

Review Summary: [reserved for out-of-context Twin Peaks quotes]

Audrey Horne are fucking awesome. I mean, obviously – there's no way a band made up of Norwegian black metallers playing hard rock, named after the fourth best character in Twin Peaks, and taking their debut's title from the second best David Lynch movie don't bang by default. (Those are actually the three things I check any band has done before I consent to listen to them). Last time I caught up with these guys was 2013's Youngblood, a record with some truly awesome cover art which from memory took the band down a slightly bluesier metal route. It was fine, but nothing that inspired passionate sing-alongs or blood-pumping air drum routines; not the way the still excellent Le Fol did, Jesus, more than ten years ago now.

Blackout, too, is fine – maybe a little less fine than Youngblood, but yeah, fine. At no point does it break out of the formula or even nudge curiously at its sides, which is pretty much to be expected of a 'hey let's see if we can play rock-n-roll' project which grew to have a 13-year, six-album discography. The band kick the album off with the requisite six-minute jam instead of placing it at the end, which almost approaches a subversion of the expected, and the extremely well-titled "Audrevolution" is fast and catchy enough to kick things off with some adrenaline. There are other small moments I'm underselling: the drum-and-clapping start of "Light Your Way" is pretty cool, and the one-two punch "Naysayer" and "Rose Alley", punctuated by semi-live audience chatter, shows the Norse lads first paying tribute to Dio-era Sabbath before smoothly turning around for a surprisingly heartfelt installment. On and on, though, Audrey Horne spin the same old tune – these songs arrive, riff hard and riff chunky, then they leave. Even Toschie's once-excellent voice is sapped of its grit and power by the production, with most of the suspiciously glam metal-y choruses multi-tracked into bland oblivion.

Maybe it was just a nostalgia exercise for me, revisiting Audrey Horne eleven years on from when Le Fol first captivated me. After all, I never expected anything to top that album's blend of heavy rock and shamelessly catchy choruses, a formula which I've still rarely heard done better by another band. Yeah, Audrey Horne were fucking awesome, they gave us legitimate all-time jams in "Threshold" and "Jaws", and even after so many years Blackout is stolidly passable rock-n-roll. What more is there to say?



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user ratings (24)
2.8
good

Comments:Add a Comment 
Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

alternate summary: https://media.giphy.com/media/l1IY4OE7k1BX8qkaQ/giphy.gif

Winesburgohio
Staff Reviewer
January 16th 2018


4184 Comments


character rankings:

1) Civil War Ben Horne
2) Dick Tremayne
3) that woeful kid Dick Tremayne adopts
4) Audrey Horne

(good ass review; for some reason i'm on a stolidly passable rock kick atm (thanks andrew w.k.) so i will probably check this anyway)

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

I'd skip this one but definitely jam Le Fol, and if you like that one NO HAY BANDA



nah man it's Jerry > Windom Earle > cockney glove kid > Audrey Horne

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

oh my god you just reminded me of the LITTLE NICKY STORYLINE



why does this exist https://media.giphy.com/media/hAryh3AN44WHK/giphy.gif

Winesburgohio
Staff Reviewer
January 16th 2018


4184 Comments


the plotline so bad they managed to make an Adam Sandler movie out of it

anyway a couple of tracks in and i'm not really feeling it -- it's not bad or anything, just kind of empty? will follow your strictures and plunge into the past.

(Windom Earle is so good lmao)

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

yeah I feel it. they didn't always sound this hollow and, uh, glam rocky



something like Jaws has heart, swagger and riffs in a perfect package. I really fucking love that tune



Windom's death moment still top 5 imagery in the show tbhimo

Chortles
January 16th 2018


21494 Comments


"1) Civil War Ben Horne" - honestly yes

excellent review row

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

cheers chorts malorts

Chortles
January 16th 2018


21494 Comments


also to jump from the last time I commented on a rowan reviewed, tangentially related peaks thread, I finally watched the return and it was fucked / amazing ofc, still reeling months later


Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

one of the greatest things ever shown on TV for sure. those last five or so episodes were next level

Trebor.
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


60077 Comments


Damn fine review!

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

Trebor you remind me today of a small Mexican chi wow wow!

wwf
January 16th 2018


7198 Comments


call for help

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

Dougie... Jones

BigPleb
January 16th 2018


65799 Comments


Props for the band name, Coop approves.

BigPleb
January 16th 2018


65799 Comments


HELLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 16th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

@arcade make.... sense of it

BigHans
January 16th 2018


30959 Comments


Really only have one question and its the only one that matters. Does this rawk.

Rowan5215
Emeritus
January 17th 2018


48028 Comments

Album Rating: 2.4

it certainly chugs, frequently thuds, occasionally jams

Gmork89
January 17th 2018


8787 Comments


I remember one of their music videos had Johan Hegg and his wife in it.



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