Horse the Band – The Mechanical Hand

Statler and Waldorf Explain It All

The consensus between most who listen to music regularly is that they prefer their music at a reasonable volume: loud. Nintendocore is a melting pot of metal, basic noise and hardcore music sprinkled with keyboards emitting that nostalgic but charming sound prevalent in the classic video games. Nintendocore up-and-comers, Horse the Band know and explore that possibility on The Mechanical Hand. While there are a few moments of wit and clever musicianship, the album feels like an experiment with tempo and volume changes by a band that is still searching for the direction they wish to go. Birdo opens the album with an explosion of drums and screaming that recalls the heaviness and speed of Motorhead. This will only confuse the listener once that tempo changes from the speedy to the slow sludge that recalls the Melvins. This pattern will clutter most songs on the album. “”Soaring Quails”” finds the group reaching for heaven as they build from a guitar riff to a symphonic, classic Atari music crescendo. This comes as a shock from being among bridges of melody, explosive noise and motion sickness-causing tempo changes. Listeners will chuckle as keyboards reminiscent of the classic Super Mario Brothers music creep underneath the sounds of sex that open “”Lord Gold Throneroom.”” One may think that somewhere, someone is being “”rewarded”” for an 8-bit accomplishment.

The Mechanical Hand is a sophomore effort from a band that relies on unfocused noise, volume, and jarring rhythms. In the end, the comments that they use from Statler and Waldorf (from the Muppet Show) to close the album say everything: “”Brilliant! Not Bad. It was okay. Not so good. Awful. Boo!””