R. Borlax

Horse The Band – R. Borlax (Pluto Records)
Now THIS is something! The promo sheet describes it as “Nintendocore”, and that’s as close to a description as I can get, too. It’s basically hardcore and metal with COB-like cheesy keyboard leads (hence the Nintendo part). Vocals range from the emo clean type, to the barely intelligible shrieks of DEP. Absolutely brilliant, manic drumming, thoroughly enjoyable lyrics about Cutsman and other 8-bit Nintendo villains and heroes. The true progression of extreme music, right here in your hands. Oh, and did I mention they were Stanford students?

Tracks:
1) Clean vocals and great drumming with an unbelievable keyboard midsection. FCC (“everyone’s fucked”) at –0:52 and –0:43, easily caught and bleeped out.
2) Sample intro about Cutsman, and a keyboard lead line that will take you right back to the good ol’ ‘80s. FCC (“on his fucking head”) at –2:44, once again very easily caught and bleeeped out. Amazing breakdown (“Cut, cut, CUT CUT, cut, cut, CUT CUT!”).
3) Extremely chaotic beginning, then calms down a bit and gets very melodic before finishing up with a killer breakdown and guitar parts.
4) FCCs everywhere, but an otherwise stellar song.
5) FCCs (“those fucking bunnies”) at –2:41 and –2:34 and also –1:41 and –1:34. If you catch those, however, you’ve got yourself a song that’s part Maiden, part DEP, and part emo, yet manages to sound awesome.
6) Oh yeah! Hot, sexy sample to start (from Mullholand Drive, completely cool by FCC standards) and then the song that launched them to fame on the Stanford campus when it appeared on the Stanford Soundtrack Vol. II. Awesome drum and electronics intro and then a manic festival of hate and blood.
7) More straightforward metallic feel, until the last part comes in and starts to destroy. That breakdown is godly, I swear.
8) Short, sweet, painful, loaded with Nintendo keyboards.
9) Starts somewhat normal, but before you know the guy is switching between emo clean vocals and shrieks at an unbelievable pace. The keyboards also never stop with their end-boss fury.
10) Another gem with brutal vocals and unbelievable keyboards. I’m glad these guys are funny, otherwise I’d hate this band.