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HORSE the Band

R. Borlax
2003
Pluto

HORSE the Band - R. Borlax (Cover Artwork)


Review by: Josh Marsh
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Horse: the Band (link)

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Pluto Records (Logo)

Published on October 21st 2003

Wow.

Anyone who is deep, deep into the hardcore/metalcore scene, and has been for a while, knows it can take a whole hell of a lot to produce an album that will literally make people stutter a "Wow" in disbelief as soon as the album has finished.

Horse: the Band has done the impossible, by these standards.

It's hard to tell someone what Horse: the Band sounds like. I guess the best example I can give would be to grab Alexisonfire, Daughters!, Fordirelifesake, and Converge, throw all the members of these bands into a blender, throw in a small splash of Tenacious D. for comedic content, and there's Horse: the Band.

The majority of this 10-song full-length consists of the average 3-4 minute hardcore/metalcore pieces with your typical spoken/screamed vocals, some INTENSE double bass on the drums, (Check out "Bunnies" for an example.) some awesome, melodic guitar riffs, (Reminiscent of Alexisonfire, check out "Big Blue Violence.") and, last, but certainly not least, some amazing keyboard parts.

That's right, keyboard.

Horse: the Band has managed to work a keyboard into their 5-man lineup, accompanying the typical hardcore/metalcore lineup of drums/guitar/bass/vocals. The keyboard tunes can be absolutely hypnotizing, especially in songs like "Seven Tentacles and Eight Flames," "Cutsman," and "Bunnies." In some of the songs, the keyboard is purely used to screech out high-pitched tones, reminiscent of a guitar screech, while at other times, midi sounds are used to play mesmerizing melodies that will have you whistling along.

It's weird though. Some of the songs will start off in an absolutely brutal manner, reminiscent of Daughters!, and work into a more melodic mood, with a more discernable tune and beat. Strangely enough, this combination works amazingly well for the entire record.

The one thing people have a hard time understand would be the lyrics on this full-length. While a few of the songs are obviously written with video games in reference, it is quite easy to attach emotions or personal experience to these lyrics, giving them much more substance and meaning for the listener.

It's hard to say much more about the band without immediately shutting off my computer to listen to the CD, so I'll just stop while I'm ahead.



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    Posted by Yikko on 2006-07-05 22:28:51
    My Score:

    "I FUCKIN LOOVVEEE HORSE THE BAND!!....i got most of their albums and i friggin lovve em.....ALL HAIL HORSE!!..
    YEA!!...."

    They only have 2 albums right now. It's technically impossible to have "most" of them.

    Fucking great album, anyway.

    Posted by i-type-poorly on 2006-05-23 20:11:45
    My Score:

    "take a listen to the lyrics in "Cutsman" for example "Scissors on his fucking head" and have you seen there t-shirts? it has a picture of cutman from Mega Man on them."

    --but they still got the name wrong. Anyway, good band.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 2:33 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Holy shit HORSE the band is so fucking sweet that i want to crap my pants.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 10, 2006 at 11:37 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    I FUCKIN LOOVVEEE HORSE THE BAND!!....i got most of their albums and i friggin lovve em.....ALL HAIL HORSE!!..
    YEA!!....

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, November 4, 2005 at 2:54 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Its the goods

    Posted by bleedingfetus on 2005-04-15 02:57:56

    HORSE = AWSOME

    U NOT LIKE HORSE= PLEASE DIE

    enough said

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 8:42 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    yea, this band is pretty terrible. id rather listen to oasis.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 6, 2005 at 10:30 PM (EDT)

    Horse The Band are definately an amazing band. The tern nintendocore actually originated from their website, you see it right there on top of the menu. No, the kids you see running around in hot topic with atreyu shirts on did not create it. These guys are amazing live.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, February 13, 2005 at 3:06 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    best band of 2004-2005

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, February 13, 2005 at 2:59 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    this is the revolution band. fuck it up

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 11, 2005 at 8:34 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Just a fucking fun album. The synth...breakdowns, whatever you wanna call them are amazing.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, November 26, 2004 at 7:02 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    nintendo-core will kick you so hard in the balls and leave you laughing your ass off. this is one of the best bands i've ever listened to. sure i like a lot of hardcore bands but this band ranks number 6 in my top 10 favorite bands. i think its hilarious.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 17, 2004 at 10:25 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Oh shut the $#@$@# up man, who cares what people peg them as. Great album. When someone says they're nintendo-core or whatever the bullsh#t name is, its refering to their simple synthisizer use, giving the same sound as alot of the older nintendo games. Get a f@#$ing life cheesed!ck. To fit the useless term of nintedo core, you dont have to drop trite videogame references, cockbag.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 10, 2004 at 1:31 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "in reality, none of the HTB songs are about video games. in megaman it's "cutman" not "cutsman." and failing to mention nintendo is good. not once has this band ever called itself "nintendocore." that's some gay labe attetched to the band by people who cant descibe music." -are you fucking stuipid? take a listen to the lyrics in "Cutsman" for example "Scissors on his fucking head" and have you seen there t-shirts? it has a picture of cutman from Mega Man on them.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 10, 2004 at 1:31 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "in reality, none of the HTB songs are about video games. in megaman it's "cutman" not "cutsman." and failing to mention nintendo is good. not once has this band ever called itself "nintendocore." that's some gay labe attetched to the band by people who cant descibe music." -are you fucking stuipid? take a listen to the lyrics in "Cutsman" for example "Scissors on his fucking head" and have you seen there t-shirts? it has a picture of cutman from Mega Man on them.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 8, 2004 at 3:55 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    in reality, none of the HTB songs are about video games. in megaman it's "cutman" not "cutsman." and failing to mention nintendo is good. not once has this band ever called itself "nintendocore." that's some gay labe attetched to the band by people who cant descibe music.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 1, 2004 at 7:29 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    The Creation of Nintendo-Core as a music genre, amazing

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 7:06 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    fucking great live.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 at 7:52 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I heart HORSE !!!

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, July 29, 2004 at 8:36 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "The one thing people have a hard time understand would be the lyrics on this full-length. While a few of the songs are obviously written with video games in reference, it is quite easy to attach emotions or personal experience to these lyrics, giving them much more substance and meaning for the listener."

    That is such a BULLSHIT statement

    Posted by axx on 2004-01-28 17:13:04
    My Score:

    F-Zero on crack meets American Nightmare.

    Kinda. Anyway it's really fun so it's worth the listen.. plus the guys in the band seem to be pretty funny (just check their site www.horsetheband.com ).

    Also It's HORSE The Band, in capital letters.

    Posted by elvisdechico on 2004-01-23 16:54:58
    My Score:

    dance party, fuckers!

    Posted by funkisdead on 2003-10-27 12:11:03
    My Score:

    should be called horse, the drug.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 26, 2003 at 2:35 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    a great record. the keyboards here remind me of the old megaman games' music.

    Ramo
    (Rockman!)

    Posted by 501 on 2003-10-25 20:38:43
    My Score:

    Yeah streetpunk is cool, after about the 3rd band it gets old though, too bad theres about 50000 streetpunk bands that all suck and sing about the exact same things, they need to bitch so god damn much. Sure bitching every once and awhile is good but if youre in a band that produces 3 or 4 records, of the same 4 chord, same lyric shit it gets old fast, dont convince yourself streetpunk is above all. This band is fucking cool, they have imagination and talent unlike alot streetpunk.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, October 25, 2003 at 12:22 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    this review does fucking suck...the best part about this band is the Nintendo-like keyboard parts...it's so much fun to listen to, it's not the greatest vocals ever but it's decent. I like it. I am working on getting this album into Hot Topic stores now because I know a lot of people won't be able to find it anywhere but the indie stores.

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, October 23, 2003 at 3:40 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I would've called my band "HORSE the dogfood." Zing.

    -sickboi

    Posted by SilentStorms on 2003-10-22 21:06:59
    My Score:

    Whoops...wrong score.
    Whoops...I'm an idiot.

    Posted by SilentStorms on 2003-10-22 21:06:23
    My Score:

    Read the review - downloaded the album - burnt the album on cd - bought the album.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 at 4:30 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    haha i love all the idiots that take this band seriously. it's nintendo core, it's about the games and fucking around, not ground breaking music.

    Posted by yellowtrash on 2003-10-21 23:58:02
    My Score:

    Fucking Nintendcore. These guys were hilarious when my band played with them.

    Posted by BSD on 2003-10-21 19:53:50
    My Score:

    Well its odd how REAL street punk and hardcore were, for a short time, the same thing... Discharge is the perfect example. I don't like modern street punk much, either, though.

    Posted by zGRAVYzHAVOKz on 2003-10-21 19:02:40
    My Score:

    The casualties suck ass. I'm going to check this band out though.

    Posted by ElVaquero on 2003-10-21 18:14:00
    My Score:

    i like good street punk and HORSE the band. however i do not like the casualties.

    Posted by BSD on 2003-10-21 16:48:18
    My Score:

    This isn't revolutionary... This isn't hardcore... This is shit, and it won't change a thing in the biz. The same kids who love this are the ones who bash street punk bands for unoriginality... and their excuse for listening to this unoriginal shit is "they can play their instruments!" Big deal. That's as idiotic a reason to listen to music as "it's inept, so I like it!" is.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 at 3:11 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    yeah, i was a little dissapointed that there was no mention of nintendo in the review...they're dubbing themselves as "nintendo core". i personally like it...though the vocals are a bit annoying at times. a more harsh scream would help a lot i think. but you cant help but love the keyboards during some breakdowns...

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 at 11:25 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    and its not Daughters! you retard, its Daughters

    Posted by aubin on 2003-10-21 09:27:51
    My Score:

    I figured the name of the band came from the old street basketball game (you know, you have to make your friends shot or you get a letter) I think they used it in the Tony Hawk video games, though we never played it when I was skating.

    So I guess it should be capitalized.

    Posted by hungryjoe on 2003-10-21 03:29:24
    My Score:

    memo to reviewers: Please stop using alexisonfire for a reference point. I can't stand that band.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 at 2:26 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    this is the worst band ive heard in years. they just throw parts together that dont flow and seem to think that if they have mosh prats, dance parts, and tech-metal parts, they'll fit into each trend and EVERYone will like them. what a waste.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 at 12:57 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    HORSE the band is the shit!

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 at 12:48 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    interesting...

    Posted by ElVaquero on 2003-10-20 23:36:25
    My Score:

    and i know claduio's gonna back me up on this shit.

    Posted by ElVaquero on 2003-10-20 23:35:13
    My Score:

    no offense, but this guy nailed everything about this band wrong. he even got their name wrong. it's HORSE the band. i only agree that this band is fucking incredible, i'm featuring the, on my website now. some fucking funny guys.

    long live nintendo-core.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, October 20, 2003 at 11:26 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    how could you fail to mention nintendo in a HORSE the band review? this band revolves around nintendo. the keyboards sound like nintendo. "Cutsman" is about the megaman boss.

    FUCK, this review sucks.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, October 20, 2003 at 11:00 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    thrice equals god. sure. and all guys who love dashboard confessional aren't gay. and this band rocks by the way.

    Posted by thriceequalsgod on 2003-10-20 22:23:25
    My Score:

    this shit's crazy...