Olden
Since their start in the early '90s, 16 Horsepower have created and perfected a sound that's build around a fascinating, elegiac pulse. Albums such as 2002'sFolkloreare inundated in jet-black rivers of dread. That sense of foreboding is found in this collection of 12 previously unreleased demons and early live tracks earlier, expressed in lead songwriter David Eugene Edwards's cracked, terrified screeches and the muscular, edgy acoustic music. The demo recording of "Coal Black Horses" (a finished version appears on theirself-titled debut) throws a messy slide guitar and throbbing brush beat behind Edwards's fire-and-brimstone rant. Meanwhile, the live tracks from 1994 demonstrate the band's developing chops and emerging theatrical flourishes that characterize their more recent work.--Matthew Cooke