Indigenous sludge
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Formed in the autumn of the year the world fell apart, 2020, Medicine Horse began as a way to navigate uncertainty and mitigate existential panic within front woman Nico Williams’ household. With the help of drummer Garrett Heck, a sound took shape, and players were assembled to bring it all to life. Williams, a citizen of Cherokee Nation, moves between jazz-tinged vocal melodies and emotionally charged howls, weaving her lyrical storytelling of historical account, folklore, and Indigenous futurism around layers of sludgy-yet-energetic harmony formed in the clash of techniques between rhythm guitarist Kyle Williams (Ponca,Otoe-Missouria, and Ioway Nations) and lead guitarist Travis Rowe. Rowe draws deeply from his country roots, transforming those immovable hooks into devastatingly heavy riffs before they ignite into towering solos.A rhythm section steeped in the slow waters of their respective homes of Monroe and New Orleans Louisiana, drummer Garrett Heck and bassist Chris West anchor Medicine Horse’s rumble with elements of doom at one moment, and the frenetic energy of thrash the next. Immediate influences of Southern doom and sludge like Crowbar, Acid Bath and Down are easy to discern, while hints of grunge, post-punk, and classic Southern blues rock simmer beneath the surface. Burn weed, cedar, and sage…plug in, turn up, and amplify your frontal lobe.Medicine Horse is named in honor of the great-great-great-grandfather of guitarist Kyle Kent Williams Sr (Ponka/Otoe-Missouria/Ioway) Shoⁿge moⁿkoⁿ (in Otoe, Ma’Kaⁿ Shuⁿje). The energy of the band’s music channels the power of these ancestral connections, and also drives the lyrical content.
By its climax, it's safe to that Medicine Horse have really hit the ground running, and in the process have created an album which is as intoxicating as it is venomous.
Not only does Medicine Horse represent Indigenous people in metal beyond black metal,2 but this bluesy brand of hard-grooving doom/sludge hits the Corrosion of Conformity niche too. Whether it’s the classic Deliverance groove of opening jam “Dead Medicine” or the chug-to-blitz of mid-album cut “Badlands,” Medicine Horse supplies plenty of Southern stomp against its myriad of thick riffs and doom-addled atmospheres. And as the band promises, a Crowbar shuffle brings to life “Turning Tide” and a Windhand narrative holds together longer offerings “Letiche” and “She,” but Medicine Horse has plenty of their own twists on these tested sounds.
This album is perched above the plains of beauty with a sludgy-blues underpinning that is enriched by Nico’s wild vocal exploration. Brilliantly tight acoustics coupled with vibrantly diverse fretwork