UMUR "Half Blood" is the 4th full-length studio album by US atmospheric/psychadelic/drone rock/metal act Horseback. The album was released through Relapse Records in May 2012.

...now I wrote metal above, but in reality the only thing "metal" about "Half Blood" are the black metal type raspy vocals. The instrumental part of the music either goes under the catagorization of laid back psychadelic rock with a repetitive krautrock element or drone rock. It´s an interesting combination that might take a bit getting used to, but ultimately comes off rather intriguing. Some tracks like "Inheritance (The Changeling)" and "Hallucigenia III: The Emerald Tablet" fall under the drone rock catagory and personally it´s not a style that makes my blood boil, but in the context of the album and working as atmosphere enhancers, they actually work pretty well. The more "rythmic" tracks of the album are more satisfying to my ears and I find myself drifting away into smooth and mellow territory when I listen to them. The organic sound production only enhances that cool and laid back experience.

...and I guess that´s the best way to describe "Half Blood". It´s a cool and laid back album that can be used as background music but also as "listening" music. A nice little breather in an otherwise chaotic and busy world. I like it and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR The Invisble Mountain is the 2nd full-length studio album by US stoner/ rock/ metal act Horseback. The album was originally released by Utech Records in 2009 but the album saw a re-release by Relapse Records in August 2010.

The album consists of 4 tracks, which are all rather lenghty. The closing track called Hatecloud Dissolving is almost 17 minutes long. The music on the album is psychadelic, repetitive and stoned rock/ metal. Actually the instrumental part of the album has little to do with metal but the vocals are raspy and somewhat akin to black metal styled vocals. The repetitive nature of the music is hypnotic and there are obvious nods toward krautrock and psychadelic rock. I´m thinking acts like early Kraftwerk, Faust and Neu! albeit at their most relaxed, mellow and repetitive. An act like the experimental Finnish black metal act Oranssi Pazuzu also comes to mind because of their similar krautrock influenced sound, but as mentioned above the instrumental side of The Invisble Mountain isn´t very "metal". The first three tracks on the album contains drums and have a beat while the above mentioned Hatecloud Dissolving closes the album with 17 minutes of floating ambient and psychadelic sound. Patience and the right mood will be required for some people ( including myself) to enjoy this one, but it´s a relaxing and mellow journey that soothes the senses. That actually goes for the whole album. Perfect music for relaxation/ meditation or maybe background music while reading a book. The organic production further enhances the warmth of the music.

The Invisble Mountain is pretty sure to be an aquired taste, but personally I enjoyed the album and for the genre it´s a very succesful album to my ears. The combination of the mellow, repetitive and psychadelic rock basis with the raspy vocals is quite unusual but works really well on the album and gives the music an original edge. A 3.5 star rating is warranted. Very interesting release this one.