Album Review: HORSE The Band - Desperate Living

Take a dab of chaotic hardcore and a bit of Nintendo-esq electronica and you more or less get HORSE The Band, or in another term the genre known as 'ninendocore'. The Californian groups Vagrant Records debut, 'Desperate Living' starts off in sporadic fashion with 'Cloudwalker'; a thumping blend of scrappy guitars and synths that sways into atmospheric keys and electronic effects. Ideally it sets the mood for the rest of the record.

The title track is a tight number which builds up to a battle between vocalist Nathan Winneke and synthesizer Erik Engstrom. It proves to be affective and impressive. Elsewhere 'The Failure of All Things' goes down the standard hardcore route with the crazy electronic undertone that adds another dimension to the status quo.,

'Horse The Song' strangely breaks down into a disco-like tempo, before going back into the usual fierce, hard-hitting number. One of HORSE The Band's welcoming characteristics is not to take themselves to serious and be a bit different. This especially can be seen on 'Science Police', despite the usual having heavy guitars and drums, you can't help but mistaken the electronic keys for Britney Spears' "Womanizer".

Throughout the use of electronic's makes HORSE The Band's sound distinctive and different, as well at times oddly retro. Tracks like 'Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding' and 'Between The Trees' are experimental but retain the melodic hardcore basis.

However 'Big Business' and 'Golden Mummy Golden Bird' sees the band taking a somewhat safe approach; as they are more or less your basic screamo track with little to no experimentation.

'Desperate Living' on the whole doesn't manage to progress the band from their previous work. However it does show a band who are willing to challenge the norm and think outside the box. 'Nintendocore' may sound like a ridiculous label for a genre but in reality, it is one that is progressive and experimental. This is exactly what HORSE The Band have done; they have for the better part, created their own genre which stands out on merit for being different and, to an extent, ambitious.

To their credit, 'Desperate Living' proves to be strange yet admirable record, although it does falter in consistency.

3.5/5

'Desperate Living' by HORSE The Band is released on Vagrant on October 6th.

Official Website
HORSE The Band on MySpace

Sean Reid