The Mighty Stef - Year Of the Horse Album Review

The Mighty Stef return with their fourth studio album, Year Of The Horse. If you are new to this band you would be forgiven for thinking that The Mighty Stef is just one man but you would be wrong. The 4 piece is made up of lead singer, Stefan Murphy, Gary Lonergan, Brian Farrell and Daniel Fitzpatrick.

This album took five years to make and was produced by Alain Johannes. The man who has worked with big names such as Dave Grohl, Chris Cornell, Queens Of the Stone Age and Eagles Of Death Metal.

The album begins with the cheerily titled “Everybody Needs A Grave”, a song about losing faith in pretty much everything.

"Ceremony" is as raw as a vegan salad. Stefan’s voice is both captivating and enthralling on this track.

Stefan is a brilliant storyteller and that is particularly evident on "The Nightwatchman Of The Iveagh Flats". This track received a great amount of radio play, particularly from TXFM. Its easy to see why it was so popular as its a great story being told vividly with a catchiness that could easily make this an anthem in the Iveagh Flats.

The album boasts some song titles that remind us of things we have all drank at some point, “Stella", "Capri Sun" and “Milk White Tears", ok maybe not the last one unless you have glaucoma and frequently lick your own tears.

"A Song For A Blind Girl” could easily be an ode to Nick Cave as this is very reminiscent of his early stuff. Even the music has a Bad Seeds feel to it. This is never a bad thing though.

"The Hardship" is an epic at almost 8 minutes long but the music keeps building and building right until the end which holds your attention the entire time and you don’t realise that you have been listening to the same track for the last 7 minutes and 53 seconds.

The album closes with “Murder” in which Stefan takes on a very Bono approach to the song. If U2 were still making music this good then nobody would have complained about getting it fro free on their iTunes account.

Standout Tracks: Murder, The Nightwatchman Of The Iveagh Flats & A Song For A Blind Girl.

By: Dave McMahon

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