Horse the Band has been called an "experimental Nintendo-based hardcore band"...not quite sure that that means, but damn if these guys are not pretty unique sounding. While the band obviously draws from a hardcore background, there's plenty of prog rock noodling and metal muscle floating around The Mechanical Hand. Take parts of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Devo, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Halen, Faith No More, and Frank Zappa, and you get some sort of an idea of what to expect here. Produced by Matt Bayles, who has recently worked with Mastodon and Norma Jean, The Mechanical Hand is a powerful sounding and energetic record, littered with aggressive vocals, wild, technical guitar work, acrobatic rhythms, and plenty of jangly 80's style pop/new wave keyboards. Sound like a strange combination? Well, at times it is. The band can sure go for the juggular when they want to, but it's when they balance their furious onslaught with moments of jazzy or proggy atmosphere, or when they inject some new wave bounciness to their metallic thunder, that their songs really stand out. This can be heard in full effect on the song "Manateen", a crushing song that also has moments of quietness permeated with chirping keyboards. There's also a surplus of manic guitar mayhem throughout the CD, with massic riffs and intricate lead spots flying around the mix. "Heroes Die" contains some of the heaviest & chilling guitar chords I have heard in a while. As brutal as the music on this CD gets at times, the lead vocals are actually much easier to listen to than other bands playing a similar style.
So, if you like your hardcore very technical, and don't mind hearing keyboards that sound like they came from an 80's video game, give Horse the Band a try. It's also worth mentioning that this is the first release on the newly resurrected Combat Records label. Welcome back guys!
Track Listing
1. Birdo
2. A Million Exploding Suns
3. Manateen
4. The House Of Bad
5. Hereos Die
6. Softer Sounds
7. Octopus On Fire
8. Soaring Quails
9. Taken By Voltures
10. A Rusty Glove
11. Sand
12. Lord Gold Throneroom
13. The Black Hole
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