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The Advantage

Elf Titled (2006)
5 Rue Christine

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Nick_V
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on March 28th 2006

To put it simply, the Advantage is a four-piece instrumental band that covers tunes from games featured on the old-school, gray-box Nintendo Entertainment System.

To put it in a bit more detail, the Advantage is a talented quartet of musicians who skillfully manage to capture a handful of memorable melodies from old Nintendo games on this album (their second), converting the primitive pulsings of an 8-bit sound system into a dynamic sounding, toe-tapping instrumental soundtrack for people who grew up using controllers with less than ten buttons. There are many fine selections on this album from classics such as Mega Man II, Wizards and Warriors, Contra, Metroid and The Guardian Legend. As a hardcore NES fan and collector for nearly twenty years, I can testify that these new versions of insanely catchy NES tunes are 99% spot-on, with intricate, multi-layered guitar work and precision drumming. While I enjoyed this entire album, my favorite tracks are the Moon theme from Duck Tales, the Woods theme from Castlevania II, the entire montage from Air Fortress and the alien's lair theme from Contra.

Some may dismiss this album as a novelty item that won't hold interest after a few spins. However, for people like me, it's a fun slice of nostalgia that warms my cold, cynical heart. The Advantage have stated that their goal is to cover every song ever played in an NES game, so I'll be looking forward to their next installment sometime in the future. If you like this, be sure to pick up their first album too.

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Anonymous (November 7, 2006)

Are you kidding? This band was so fun live! That's the kind of guitar playing you want to watch as well as hear. I saw them in a crappy underground venue in Nebraska and it was still awesome.

Anonymous (April 3, 2006)

Kkkkkkkaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrnnnnnnnooooooovvvvvv

Anonymous (April 1, 2006)

You neglected to highlight it too, scene-boy. Why not inform the rest of us?

Anonymous (April 1, 2006)

the reviewer neglects to highlight the indie super-outfit this band is comprised of. that is what sets them apart.

SilentStorms (March 31, 2006)

Shit! If you fellas like this then you will thoroughly enjoy Ahleuchatistas, as it sounds the same (except no nintendo covers). This mp3 is fucking sweet!

Anonymous (March 30, 2006)

to my knowledge - 2MA are still alive & well....they have an active MySpace account, anyway....

Anonymous (March 30, 2006)

novelty rock ten steps below Weird Al, if you buy this kind of stuff you're not helping the situation with popular music.

Anonymous (March 30, 2006)

Are 2MA still around?

Anonymous (March 30, 2006)

Two Man Advantage >> The Advantage

Anonymous (March 29, 2006)

I know its current and all, but this band should cover the main Katamari song. "Na Na Na Na Na...."

rkl (March 29, 2006)

well, to put it in a simplistic way...
while both are talented musicians, the advantage restrict their songs to individual levels
the minibosses do the whole suite.

also, the advantage suck live, and are no where near as talented as the minibosses.

istapledmyfoot (March 29, 2006)

minibosses are lame, advantage forever HOW could you beat spencer fucking seim???

xote (March 28, 2006)

this band kicks ass

rkl (March 28, 2006)

the minibosses are much better. youre just a fool :(

JoshCBFL (March 28, 2006)

No way in hell are the minibosses better.

hungryjoe (March 28, 2006)

Someone tell them to do Jackal. That game has some great music, which is good because I spent a *lot* of time in first year trying to finish that damn game. Now I can do it in about 20 minutes.

Anonymous (March 28, 2006)

the minibosses are better and were first.

Anonymous (March 28, 2006)

To the noter below:

Then stop pissing and moaning and write a better review.

Anonymous (March 28, 2006)

The reviews today all suck. Who cares about novelty rock, Nintendo BS except video game nerds.

cash_money_hustla (March 28, 2006)

As odd as this may sound, I think its hard to compare the Minibosses and the Advantage. They both take different approaches to what they're doing. I think that the Advantage are more talented, but they only do portions of game songs. While the Minibosses will do all the music in the entire game in one song.

Anonymous (March 28, 2006)

minibosses > the advantage

SalsaShark (March 28, 2006)

This band is pretty awesome, but you all honestly really need to check out the NESkimos, too. They're the shit.