haha, silliness. but refreshing. some of the hardcore elements are too familiar but they break the mold with their obvious love affair with low-tech synth. this will be every hardcore geek's favorite band, until the imitators follow. then it will be up to HORSE to ditch the hardcore for metal or perhaps industrial? we'll see. his vocals are terrible, but in a good way. no excess cheese like you would get from a band like trivium. maybe for fans of BTBAM, Giles, Poison the Well, MELVINS, Cornelius, Thrice, Fantomas, Dillinger Escape Plan, Aphex Twin, deftones, Tricky, Thursday... i dunno. they're kinda weird

This band's sound is very unique. The vocalist has a great voice, and I think is underrated by many. The idea of this band musically is playing a heavy metalcore breakdown and putting a killer video game style keyboard part on top of it. Yes the best way to describe it would be nintendocore. I love the combination, a great sound and a truely interesting band to listen to, especially if you like different music. Sample it up though before you buy it, I think listening to the songs is the best way to get an idea of what I'm saying because I don't think that their sound can really be described.

The Mechanical Hand is a strong showing by HORSE, and it certainly keeps with its video game roots better than ever, but it can't competer with R. Borlax. I remember the first time I heard them, it was cutsman. I think I almost creamed myself. Hardcore+video game music+amusing lyrics=wonderful combination. I worshipped that cd. you could listen to the whole thing, and know every 16-bit of bleeping goodness. I reccomend this to any HORSE fan, or any original hardcore lover. Nothing beats HORSE.

Personally, I can't ask much more from any band than originality. I'm pleased with pretty much any band as long as they are doing their own thing and being creative. This perfectly describes HORSE The Band, but in addition to originality, they have great musicianship. As for the CD, it is outstanding. I will most likely be happy with anything HORSE The Band releases as long as it keeps "the formula" alive. This CD definitely keeps the formula alive with the Nintendo keyboards, schizophrenic lyrics, and great guitar / drum work. There are, however, new aspects to HORSE found on this CD. For example, there are some classic hardcore growls scattered throughout that were nowhere to be found on R. Borlax. Also, there is some soft singing on the track "Manateen" which I thought I would never hear from HTB but is great to hear. Lastly, there are some guitar solos on the CD which is great, but also nowhere to be found on R. Borlax.

The great thing about this CD (and R. Borlax) is that every song has something great about them whether it is the keyboards, drums / guitars, lyrics, or everything put together. Sometimes it lasts for the whole song and sometimes it is only for 10 seconds, but it makes the whole song great. Also, there are a couple of those tracks that when you hear for the first time, just makes you smile with joy unlike other tracks that you have to listen to a couple of times (Cutsman and Bunnies on R. Borlax). Unfortunately, there is no track that touches the greatness of Cutsman or Bunnies on this album, but that's not to say R. Borlax is better. I can't even make a decision as to which one is better but I guess it doesn't matter. I'll just pretend both CDs are one unstoppable entity set on taking over the whole world.

Favorite Tracks:

Manateen: Great song all the way through. The slow part reminds me of the music from one of those sad, cheesy, 80's movies like "The Breakfast Club." This song adds a whole new dimension to HTB.

Octopus on Fire: Great keyboards. Gets good at 1:20. "Then I hold my head up, HIGHER AND HIGHER!"

A Rusty Glove: "I'm not a robot, but I've got a mechanical hand."

One thing to note that is just kind of strange, is during the song "Octopus on Fire" (2:52 - 3:18), in my opinion, has an uncanny resemblance to Alexisonfire - The Kennedy Curse (2:22 - 2:57). This is no big deal, just kind of odd for HTB to have something that actually resembles something else.

I am the guitarist in this band, so I feel qualified to say that this is probably the best album I've ever heard. My guitar work has really progressed since R. Borlax and I think it it just a matter of months until I am asked by guitar player magazine to do a monthly column.

The other thing I wanted to clarify, in reference to the review 2 below me, is that Manateen is definitely NOT a character from your past. Our merch girl, sarah, made up that word when we were at the beach. Lastly, I wanted to just say to any of the ladies that are interested, they should find me on myspace.