“Metalhorse” is Billy Nomates’ third studio release, following 2023’s critically acclaimed “CACTI” and her self-titled 2020 debut. A concept album revolving around the image of a dilapidated funfair, representing the tumultuousness of life—risk and pleasure, danger and exhilaration.
On album three the whip-tongued Billy Nomates departs the urban sonics of previous records in favour of a warmer, piano-driven approach.
The 11 new songs here explore blues, folk, and piano-driven arrangements that take Billy Nomates’ stark punk sound in a more pastoral direction. “Metalhorse” is the first Billy Nomates album to be made in a studio and with a full band, the line-up including bass player Mandy Clarke (KT Tunstall, The Go! Team) and drummer Liam Chapman (Rozi Plain, BMX Bandits), plus a special feature from The Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell on “Dark Horse Friend.”
“Metalhorse” is a balancing of extremes. Reckoning with loss, material insecurity, and trying to stay true to yourself against an increasingly unpredictable backdrop of global chaos, the scales could easily have tipped towards darkness. But the more Maries has had to weather, the more precious those smaller moments of happiness have become.
“Metalhorse” begs the listener to find their own funfair; there will always be things that feel perilous. At the same time, you have to marvel at the lights while they’re still on. Dancing with those feelings of uncertainty and joy, “Metalhorse” is awash with both pain and perseverance.
Tor Maries has returned with her third album as Billy Nomates, The follow-up to 2023’s “CACTI” was once again co-produced with James Trevascus. Joyful and persistent, it’s described by Maries as a concept record. “Whether it’s real or not is up to the listener, but to me “Metalhorse” is this crumbling fairground where some rides are nice to get on and some rides aren’t,” Maries explained. “That’s how life felt for a minute, and it still feels like that a bit now.” She added, “From the second I started working on this album, every other month has brought this massive life shift that has either been weirdly magical and brilliant, or quite the opposite. What I’m really looking for, now, is something in between.”
The Fat Angel Sings 