GET ON THE HORSEBACK WITH HALF BLOOD ALBUM STREAM

You MetalSucks commenters are hilarious. When I published an interview with Horseback mainman/onlyman Jenks Miller last month, a commenter known as “MSW” said the following: “No offense to this artist and what he does, but MetalSucks is becoming the definition of ‘hipster’.” Hmm, so I guess hipsters are into Shinedown now? Or did you believe my love for Shinedown is ironic? No sir. You can certainly call my taste in music “bad” if you like (I’m a big boy! I can take it!) but I’m pretty sure we’re not hipsters. Actually, I have no idea… the term “hipster,” like “alternative” rock, has changed so much over time that it has lost all meaning.

I get why people call Horseback “hipster” — Miller has short hair, doesn’t play an ESP guitar, and generally doesn’t look like a metal dude — but then again neither do Axl and I, and the term isn’t really definable anyway. How ’bout we just listen to Horseback’s excellent new album Half Blood over at Spin and let the music do the talking? Sweet music as it is, it combines elements of black metal, ambient, drone and electronic to create something uniquely Horseback. I find it very pleasing to the ear. Guess that makes me a hipster, albeit a Shinedown-loving one. Order Half Blood through Relapse.

-VN