365 Days of Metal: A Band of Horses

Day 113

Horse the Band - Desperate Living

Band Origin: Lake Forest, California, USA
Genre: Nintendocore / Metalcore
Label: Vagrant Records
Running Time: 50 minutes 
Release Date: October 6, 2009

Best Part: It's another trippy trek into Winneke's psyche and a display of musical evolution for the inventers of the 8-bit inspired genre.

Favorite Tracks: Big Business, Between the Trees, Shapeshift, Horse the Song, and Golden Mummy Golden Bird 

Grade: 4.0

--------- 

Desperate Living in way more than 20 words or less: 

Desperate Living is Horse the Bands' fifth-full-length release and continues to explore the fractured psyche of frontman Nathan Winneke, while moving away from the Nintendo laced craziness and embracing musical and thematic evolution.

The Band: 

Horse the band is a five piece metalcore band from Lake Forest known as the progenitors of Nintendocore, coining the term originally as a gag. The bands sound is a fusion of the heavy use of synth effects emulating the 8-bit sound of old school Nintendo titles and metalcore. While many of the bands early records feature track titles referencing videogame characters and feature music that may seem absolutely ridiculous, much of the bands lyrical content is based off the psyche, anecdotes and experiences of vocalist Nathan Winneke - many of which explore troubled times and dark themes.

Horse the Bands' other releases include: Secret Rhythm of the Universe (2001), R. Borlax (2003), The Mechanical Hand (2005), and A Natural Death (2007)

Jay's Take on Desperate Living: 

Horse the band has always been a band rooted in absolute insanity, from the fusion of metalcore with the synth driven 8-bit sound of old school video games, references to videogame characters, abstract song titles and dark lyrical imagery. However, they have always been a band in constant evolution, breaking slowly away from the Nintendo driven themes of early releases and moving towards more socially and culturally relevant themes - even though it may not seem that way on first listen. The music created by Horse the Band is heavily influenced by the lyricism created by Winneke, who's psyche is without a doubt the central figure in the themes and experiences covered in each album and along with the bands evolution and experiences in the music industry, all of these elements came together to create something new. Desperate Living is a record that takes a musical leap forward from their earlier releases, channeling much less of the Nintendocore sound that they helped create and also presenting a richer focus on orchestration, programming and synth driven elements such as bass. It's a departure from their earlier recordings which had a heavier focus more driven by the metalcore aspect of their musical fusion. In a way, some fans may see this as a bit of a drawback, but the diminished tones in particular open the way for the more complex orchestrations that the band has come to put together, which feed in directly to the new themes that they are conveying, whether it's the pursuit of integrity within the music industry, some of the more dark aspects of Winneke's psyche, or stark social commentary. There is a lot hidden within Desperate Living, as there is with the rest of Horse the Band's catalog, as Winneke as stated: "No song is ever what it seems....the more silly it may come off the more troubled it probably is under the surface."
Sample of the Day:



- J