I don't get it. I don't get the hype for this band. A lot of what is currently termed "hardcore" or "post-hardcore" leaves me wondering why it is so loved by some members of the alternative/underground press.
I'm a stickler for the "classic" hardcore sound - the "Loud Fast Rules" conceit embodied by bands like The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat and countless other local punk bands that one comes into contact with when doing some tatty music-based 'zine.
By comparison, a lot of the post-hardcore bands have a certain pretense about them that I can't stomach. Maybe it's the fact that hardcore by definition shouldn't be aping Emerson, Lake and Palmer. It's not that I hate challenging music, but when hardcore bands go more progressive it sort of ridicules the whole notion of HARDCORE, doesn't it? It's either that or I'm just not a fan of some of hardcore's mutant strains.
Before you go and call me an old-timer, I'm 24. Now you can make fun of me for being too young to sound this old! Everyone wins!
HORSE the band should have sounded different from the teeming hardcore hordes. They're a "Nintendocore" band, Nintendocore being hardcore with electronic elements reminiscent of video games from the 1980s-early 1990s.
I like this subgenre as a whole, grindcore with electronic elements is becoming an increasingly prevalent (and welcome) sound lately. I'm disappointed with The Mechanical Hand, though. HORSE the band honestly sound like a generic progressive hardcore band with appropriate-sounding keyboards to me. I give them credit for carrying the Nintendo imagery as far as it can possibly go, but HORSE the band are not exactly as experimental as the PR material makes them out to be.
Article comments
1 - sam
wow, you didnt even give a review of the album. you went on and on about a record label and genres. Please actually give a review of the record, tracks, etc.
2 - Cameron A.
Are you from Tera Melos, by any chance? Curious.
Note how I said GENERIC PROG HARDCORE. If there was anything I liked about HORSE the band, I would have said so.
3 - mikayla apodaca
you are a bitch. HORSE the Band is the best fucking band ever. you sir are gay.
4 - Mark Saleski
make up your mind....bitch or gay!
sheesh!!! relax, will ya?!
5 - Cameron A.
I'm just confused as to why the commenter called me 'sir.'
6 - Will
dude if ur going to critisize a dude whos reveiwing a band u like, you dont say "dude ur retarded this band rocks"
thats not a come back. when u say that u sound stupid
and what did u mean when you said something about Lamb of God? i have no idea what iteration means
7 - Will
i guess i was a year late in posting that lol
8 - McCabe
well that was actually the most fucking bollocks excuse for a review I have ever read. why not mention something bout how the album sounds you just ranted about what music you like and don't like and some shit about the record label. This is a truly fucking awesome album and just cos you hate anything new doesn't make this bad, HORSE are one of the only truly original bands to have appeared for years and they deserve a lot more fucking respect than that! so fuck your silly review it's fucking bullshit my friend
9 - Somejoe
That was decidedly the least hardcore review I've ever read. It was like listening to Brian Boitano critique Mark Messier. You're out of your element, Donny.
10 - Chaos
u sux man. These guys Rule. (well i do have to admit the singers vocals sux)
11 - Munn
Horse the Band is easily the most incredible, skilled, sincere, and important band to emerge in a fucking decade.
12 - JasonOConnell
terrible review. this isnt how you review a cd.