Oh the mysteries of reissues. Why some bands gain a nearly cultlike status and receive this sort of repackaging and attention while others go forgotten is beyond me. Back in the day, dead horse did little to impress me with their odd death/thrash hybrid on Horsecore: an Unrelated Story That's Time Consuming (aside from the great title). Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers is definitely an improved product in comparison but still nothing that will blow my socks off. The band's tendency to fill their songs with sections that are buzzkills is probably the most annoying thing. There are clever and exciting sections throughout but often they are followed with a set of riffs that do much to halt the song's progress. The hollered vocals also tend to get monotonous after awhile as well. They do have a handful of good songs such as "Turn" or "Medulla Oblongata", but overall this is the sort of album that gets a onceover and then is never played again. There are better bands from the era to check out, if you ask me.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 01/2000

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