California's Horse the Band debuted in 2003 with R. Borlax, a noisy but undoubtedly leading light in the burgeoning post-hardcore subgenre of Nintendocore. They returned in 2005 with Mechanical Hand, which was produced by Matt Bayles (Isis, Norma Jean) and released through the Koch imprint Combat. Nathan Winneke (vocals), Erik Engstrom (keys), Eli Green (drums), David Isen (guitar), and Dashiell Arkenstone (ba**) proved much tighter a unit, incorporating skewed melodies and real dynamics into their freaky sonic stew. However, besides the nods to recognizable structure, Horse the Band were still mostly enamored of screamo breaks, unpredictable rhythms, Locust-like nonsense philosophy on the microphone, and blasts of squelch that were unrecognizable but bada**. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide