When I first heard Glassing a year or two ago, lauded especially by members of Holy Fawn, I listened to a single song before deciding it was too acerbic and abrasive for my tastes. I’m not sure what compelled me to give them a second chance months later, but the switch flipped instantly. I became obsessed with Twin Dream, playing it over and over until that single disc was no longer enough to satisfy my thirst. I bought the first copy of Light and Death I could find, but failed to find Spotted Horse anywhere.

That is, until last month when I received an email alerting me to a reissue, and the speed at which I ordered it might have set some sort of land speed record. And where I have previously lauded Twin Dream as a singular masterpiece that the earlier records merely reflect dimly, Painted Horse might only be weaker by a degree of decimals.

My initial reaction to Glassing wasn’t entirely wrong: the Austin trio employs an abrasive dissonance that is as ear-splittingly acidic as I had originally assessed. However, those harsh elements are only one half of the group’s modus operandi. They also traverse through gorgeous stretches of ambient soundscapes. Most other heavy bands would use these tones as brief transitionary moments, but on Painted Horse, these passages carry just as much of the runtime as the bombast, offering an ambient yin to their metallic yang.

They play each of these poles with equal conviction. When they’re heavy, they’re skull-crushingly heavy. When they’re delicate, they’re weightless. “A Good Death” is a good demonstration of their palette, swinging from barely-there washes of chords with hushed clean vocals to leaden riffs and throat-shredding shrieks.

Now, juxtaposing heavy and quiet elements is nothing new. Thousands of bands have used that same basic formula to write entire careers. But something about Glassing’s approach to the trope is novel. It might be the sheer breadth of their dynamic poles. It might be just that they do both sides of their sound very well, bending the very feedback from their guitars to bend to their will.

Whatever the case, Painted Horse simply does not miss. Opener “When You Stare” spends the first half of its seven-minute runtime in punishing brutality, then spends the rest of the track cooling down. “Follow Through” punctuates shoegaze tranquility with black metal blasts. “Way Out” is one of the heavier tracks, but sounds veritably triumphant due to a major chord progression. “The Wound is Where the Light Enters” closes the record with a long sigh, meditating on a post rock guitar figure with light drums that refrains from the inevitable climax you’d come to expect.

As good as it is, it’s also difficult to categorize. I’ve often described them as sounding like a more-metalcore Holy Fawn, except that they aren’t actually metalcore, despite employing some of that scene’s dissonance. I’ve heard them described as blackgaze, doomgaze, post metal, post hardcore, and sludge metal, and while none of them totally fit the bill, they don’t entirely miss either. One thing is sure: I’m in love with whatever they’re doing.