Nice Hooves are a Detroit hardcore band. Made mostly out of members of
The Armed, and play in similar style. Although they aren't quite as spastic as
The Armed's latest releases they are actually closer to their debut These Are Lights. Nice Hooves has a greater punk influence in their sound rather than a metalcore one. There is more focus on creating catchy riffs and jamming rather than being as heavy as they can all the time. Roots is a song that exemplifies this really well. It's a slower song that starts off with a pretty cool riff, which they precede to jam the *** out of. The band interjects with some cool guitar fills here and there and it really shows a different side of these guys. It shows that they are talented songwriters and it's a side they should explore as
The Armed.
The two songs after are some of the best on the album. White Knuckle is a fast song and it shows that this is where Nice Hooves are at their best. The whole song comes together so well, as it's the closest to These Are Lights, and it shows why that's where the band is at their best. The band is really good at making fun and quick music plain and simple. As mentioned earlier there are some slower songs on the album too. Right to be Paranoid has an intro that does a really good at setting up a paranoid atmosphere. Vocalist Dave Graw sings quite nicely on this track and it helps set up the atmosphere of the song. Dave's voice isn't all that different from
The Armed's vocalist, in fact on first listen you might not even notice it's someone else at all. He gets the job done, and as mentioned he has a decent singing voice, even if it is used very rarely. Where this group of songwriters really excel is just creating fun hardcore punk songs. It's fast, catchy, and heavy and its pretty damn good too. There is a good amount variety here with keeps this relatively short listen interesting the whole way through.
As always with the No rest Until Ruin label all of their music is free. If you like hardcore, metalcore, and anything similar to those genres this would be a good idea to check out. They craft some pretty good songs which is definitely worth a listen. It may not be as good as
The Armed's best material, but with that being said it's still pretty good.
