Plastic ax-wielding players of Guitar Hero II surely remember the dub/metal hybrid "Elephant Bones" by a band called That Handsome Devil. The song managed to sell over 20K downloads on the strength of its inclusion in the game despite the band never having released a full-length album before.
Now, That Handsome Devil are hoping to find life after Guitar Hero with their debut album, A City Dressed in Dynamite.
Here are some quick-and-dirty reviews of two of the songs on the album, alongside the publicist's descriptions:
– "Squares" (on MySpace)
Publicist description: "Quirky pop laced with clever word play poking fun at the modern hipster."
What it sounded like: Nick Cave fronting The Go Team. Airy, quirky production. Fun, preening stomp-funk with a late-Hendrix-inspired chorus and Madvillain-style intro and outtro. With its punchline, "Don't bring that circle 'round here / they're all a bunch of squares," the song seems to be all about mocking hipsters (which is, of course, what hipsters do).
– "Wintergreen" (iTunes preview only)
Publicist description: "Picks up right where Elephant Bones left off with its piercing intensity."
What it sounded like: The full song has been pulled from the band'sMySpace page, but judging from the 30-second preview on iTunes, itcombines a surf/garage feel with a nice shuffle beat while maintainingsome of that same Nick Cave-like atmosphere.
What do you think... will That Handsome Devil be able to springboard from Guitar Hero onto the charts and into our hearts?
Photo: THD
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