HORSE THE BAND - DESPERATE LIVING1. Cloudwalker
2. Desperate Living
3. The Failure of All Things
4. HORSE the Song (ft. K-Slax)
5. Science Police
6. Shapeshift (ft. Jamie Stewart)
7. Between the Trees
8. Golden Mummy Golden Bird
9. Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding (ft. Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty)
10. Big Business (ft. Ed Edge)
11. Rape Escape (ft. Valentina Lisitsa)
12. Arrive
1. Cloudwalker
The First Track of HORSE the Band's latest album gives a strong start to this work. I somtimes find HtB songs to be grizzly bears meandering through a forest of LSD, confusing and trippy. Cloudwalker seems to moderate that somewhat and became enjoyable. My least favorite parts of the song are the occasional breaks that bring forth a deep voice talking. I feel that it breaks the continuity of the song. Overall it feels like a filler song.
5/10 Average
2. Desperate Living
Title tracks bring high expectations. This did not disappoint. At first I was thinking, not so great with the clean vocals and the ambient sounds, but then the keyboard came in and I remembered why I love this band. They Always surprise me with excellent melodies that are always lacking in metal bands. Melodic metal is not a crime. The best part of this track would have to be the spoken word at the end: hilariously deep, awesome oxymoron.
Interesting Fact: This track contains drummer Jon Karel from the band: The Number Twelve Looks Like you. I just want to know why he isn't given his own (ft.) thing on the track listing....
6/10 Good
3. The Failure of All Things
This track, despite its name, was everything but a failure. As I have come to expect from HtB, a masterpiece of Nintendocore goodness. Going so far as including the Super Mario Bros. running out of time sound. It's nice to have something familiar to hook onto when you are listening to something new. I have a feeling that this track will be one of my favorites from this album and all of HtB discography. Their keyboardest is full of win.
9/10 Awesome
4. HORSE the Song (ft. K-Slax)
My first thought before listening was, "Seriously, featuring another artist? What is HtB, a Hip-Hoppin' pop singin' crapload? Of coarse all that changed when I I began listing. Lyrically strong, guitaring that holds my attention, keyboard that reminds me of Megaman, and video game sounds? Total Awesome. The end kind of slows down to a fade which I find unnecessary. Now I just have to hit the next button on my iPod when listening to the song.
K-Slax whom I never heard of before provides guest vocals apparently. I'm not really sure where he comes in and my only guess is that he is the one yelling obscenities in the background for 2 seconds....
8/10 Scintillating
5. Science Police
This song has a poppy beat that make me want to jump up and down like a teenage girl at her first concert. While not really what I was looking for from a HtB song I did find it a pleasant listen. I feel like I might want to put this in a playlist that I would play for friends who aren't really metal fans.
6/10 Good
6. Shapeshift (ft. Jamie Stewart)
Shapeshift brought high expectations due to it being the first music video from the album. It gets off to a slow start but it keeps me listening enough that I would wait through the noise to get to the bulk of the song by breaking into it with some blast beats and screams. Most of said noise that takes place throughout the song I assume is brought forth by featured artist Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu. Had I been in charge of picking, Shapeshift would have had no video. I feel like other songs were much more deserving.
5/10 Average - Saved from a 4 by the line "like dinosaurs"
Shapeshift Video: 10/10 on the weirdness scale. I don't believe I will be finding myself bored and saying, "Yo, Dawg! Lets go watch that HORSE the Band music video! Oh Well...
7. Between the Trees
(Rant)I hate long boring intros. Are artists just trying to take up more time and make their tracks longer? Do they feel the need to make me skip ahead to get to what I want to hear? Does it give them sick pleasure? (/Rant)
Once I get to the meat of this track I am amused if slightly bored. Nothing really stuck out at me in this track. It wasn't bad, I wouldn't skip it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it.
4/10 Meh.
8. Golden Mummy Golden Bird
HtB has a real thing for the word Gold. Lord Gold Throneroom, Golden Mummy Golden Bird, Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding. Is it a metal fetish? I'm a little upset with this track because it has a great beginning really catchy and emotional. But then it grabs my dreams and smashes them onto the pointy rocks of mediocrity. I just lose intrest by the end. It might have something to do with the spoken word of that strange voice that seems like it just doesn't belong. Also upsetting because that makes 3 songs in a row that make me lose interest. Album dip.
5/10 Average
9. Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding (ft. Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty)
Starts out with a some mellow sounding vocals that I'm liking a little. Good thing they break off that and mix it up with some screams and cleans. The lyrics are very strange, not that I wasn;t expecting that since it features Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty who are from past songs in past albums. Not to shabby a song overall.
6/10 Good
10. Big Business (ft. Ed Edge)
I would describe this track as totally fun. At about 2:07 the real fun begins. I think one of the major pluses of Big Business is the AMAZING triangle work of Ed Edge. If this song was a sentence, Ed's triangles are the exclamation points. This song includes everything I love about HtB and successfully pulls it out of the Album dip.
7/10 Tasty
11. Rape Escape (ft. Valentina Lisitsa)
"...possibly the most powerful song we've ever written." says the bands Keyboardist Erik Engstrom. I can't find any reason to disagree. Just remember that "powerful doesn't mean "best". It is another song with an annoyingly long, soft intro. The main song though is, for the most part, worth the wait. I feel as if the soft part breaks up the emotionality of the vocalists ravings. The guest piano from Valentina Lisitsa is amazing. Both the solo part and when she is joined by the others is a sound to hear. Highly enjoyable.
7/10 Tasty
12. Arrive
The First Track of HORSE the Band's latest album gives a strong start to this work. I somtimes find HtB songs to be grizzly bears meandering through a forest of LSD, confusing and trippy. Cloudwalker seems to moderate that somewhat and became enjoyable. My least favorite parts of the song are the occasional breaks that bring forth a deep voice talking. I feel that it breaks the continuity of the song. Overall it feels like a filler song.
5/10 Average
2. Desperate Living
Title tracks bring high expectations. This did not disappoint. At first I was thinking, not so great with the clean vocals and the ambient sounds, but then the keyboard came in and I remembered why I love this band. They Always surprise me with excellent melodies that are always lacking in metal bands. Melodic metal is not a crime. The best part of this track would have to be the spoken word at the end: hilariously deep, awesome oxymoron.
Interesting Fact: This track contains drummer Jon Karel from the band: The Number Twelve Looks Like you. I just want to know why he isn't given his own (ft.) thing on the track listing....
6/10 Good
3. The Failure of All Things
This track, despite its name, was everything but a failure. As I have come to expect from HtB, a masterpiece of Nintendocore goodness. Going so far as including the Super Mario Bros. running out of time sound. It's nice to have something familiar to hook onto when you are listening to something new. I have a feeling that this track will be one of my favorites from this album and all of HtB discography. Their keyboardest is full of win.
9/10 Awesome
4. HORSE the Song (ft. K-Slax)
My first thought before listening was, "Seriously, featuring another artist? What is HtB, a Hip-Hoppin' pop singin' crapload? Of coarse all that changed when I I began listing. Lyrically strong, guitaring that holds my attention, keyboard that reminds me of Megaman, and video game sounds? Total Awesome. The end kind of slows down to a fade which I find unnecessary. Now I just have to hit the next button on my iPod when listening to the song.
K-Slax whom I never heard of before provides guest vocals apparently. I'm not really sure where he comes in and my only guess is that he is the one yelling obscenities in the background for 2 seconds....
8/10 Scintillating
5. Science Police
This song has a poppy beat that make me want to jump up and down like a teenage girl at her first concert. While not really what I was looking for from a HtB song I did find it a pleasant listen. I feel like I might want to put this in a playlist that I would play for friends who aren't really metal fans.
6/10 Good
6. Shapeshift (ft. Jamie Stewart)
Shapeshift brought high expectations due to it being the first music video from the album. It gets off to a slow start but it keeps me listening enough that I would wait through the noise to get to the bulk of the song by breaking into it with some blast beats and screams. Most of said noise that takes place throughout the song I assume is brought forth by featured artist Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu. Had I been in charge of picking, Shapeshift would have had no video. I feel like other songs were much more deserving.
5/10 Average - Saved from a 4 by the line "like dinosaurs"
Shapeshift Video: 10/10 on the weirdness scale. I don't believe I will be finding myself bored and saying, "Yo, Dawg! Lets go watch that HORSE the Band music video! Oh Well...
7. Between the Trees
(Rant)I hate long boring intros. Are artists just trying to take up more time and make their tracks longer? Do they feel the need to make me skip ahead to get to what I want to hear? Does it give them sick pleasure? (/Rant)
Once I get to the meat of this track I am amused if slightly bored. Nothing really stuck out at me in this track. It wasn't bad, I wouldn't skip it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it.
4/10 Meh.
8. Golden Mummy Golden Bird
HtB has a real thing for the word Gold. Lord Gold Throneroom, Golden Mummy Golden Bird, Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding. Is it a metal fetish? I'm a little upset with this track because it has a great beginning really catchy and emotional. But then it grabs my dreams and smashes them onto the pointy rocks of mediocrity. I just lose intrest by the end. It might have something to do with the spoken word of that strange voice that seems like it just doesn't belong. Also upsetting because that makes 3 songs in a row that make me lose interest. Album dip.
5/10 Average
9. Lord Gold Wand of Unyielding (ft. Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty)
Starts out with a some mellow sounding vocals that I'm liking a little. Good thing they break off that and mix it up with some screams and cleans. The lyrics are very strange, not that I wasn;t expecting that since it features Lord Gold and His Purple Majesty who are from past songs in past albums. Not to shabby a song overall.
6/10 Good
10. Big Business (ft. Ed Edge)
I would describe this track as totally fun. At about 2:07 the real fun begins. I think one of the major pluses of Big Business is the AMAZING triangle work of Ed Edge. If this song was a sentence, Ed's triangles are the exclamation points. This song includes everything I love about HtB and successfully pulls it out of the Album dip.
7/10 Tasty
11. Rape Escape (ft. Valentina Lisitsa)
"...possibly the most powerful song we've ever written." says the bands Keyboardist Erik Engstrom. I can't find any reason to disagree. Just remember that "powerful doesn't mean "best". It is another song with an annoyingly long, soft intro. The main song though is, for the most part, worth the wait. I feel as if the soft part breaks up the emotionality of the vocalists ravings. The guest piano from Valentina Lisitsa is amazing. Both the solo part and when she is joined by the others is a sound to hear. Highly enjoyable.
7/10 Tasty
12. Arrive
Great ending to a good album. I would fight some huge dude to the death in a mosh pit to this song. This song had good structure. It had the expected HtB wanderings, but they were wandering into a place I wanted them to go. Alright!
7/10 Tasty
Overall: 6.25 out of 10
Good album, couple of average to not so good songs ruined its rating but I feel it is still worth a listen if not a buy. The album will be released on Vagrant Records on October 6th.
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