Note: Early in 2021 I opted to remove this article due to allegations about Dan Avidan at the time, due to the nature of what was being alleged. While, thankfully, these were eventually proven false, I still believed that it's important to address this when re-publishing the article, to ensure that readers are aware of the situation. I encourage everyone to make their own minds up on this specific case, but also to take accusations of sexual misconduct seriously because for every false accusation, there are dozens of legitimate ones ignored every day. The rest of the article is unedited from before it was originally taken down.
Five years after their second effort, Player Select, comedy nerdcore group Starbomb – consisting of YouTuber Arin Hanson (aka Egoraptor), Game Grumps partner and Ninja Sex Party singer Dan Avidan (aka Danny Sexbang) and NSP musician “Ninja Brian” Wecht, have built up a lot of material. Having taken time on this new material and roping in some new contributors to the cause, fans finally get the chance to see if their supposed final album, The TryForce, has been worth the wait.
If you’re wondering why this may be Starbomb’s final adventure, look no further than the intro track, where Arin introduces the effort as the last in a trilogy that the band plan to release, with nothing expected afterwards. As a result, The TryForce acts as a triumphant swansong for the trio, and to add an extra kick to proceedings, they’ve brought in NSP collaborators Tupper Ware Remix Party to add live instrumentation, adding a whole new dimension to the overall sound and allowing them to move into more straightforward style parodies of various artists, including The Lonely Island on opening track “Hardest Fucking Game In The World” (an ode to Dark Souls), Rage Against the Machine on the aptly titled Tetris parody “Filling In the Name Of”, and Snoop Dogg on “Welcome to the Mario Party”. This change between standard hip-hop, pop, power ballads and metal makes this possibly the most diverse Starbomb album yet, and makes it clearer why it took so long for them to write this album as they push their creative boundaries.
Talking more specifically about the tracks themselves, the first few tracks of The TryForce get things off to a strong start. The funky bass lines of Legend of Zelda parody “A Boy and His Boat” really carry the track, and help keep the track enjoyable even when jokes (a list of unnecessary items Link is forced to carry on his quest) fail to land in the lyrics, while the aggressive rap-metal of “Filling In the Name Of”, a story about an insecure Tetris piece, lends itself to Arin’s at times abrasive rapping style. “Filling In the Name Of” is a track which largely allows Arin to take the spotlight, with Dan featuring rarely, a role which is reversed on Pokémon parody “A Wild Guitar Solo Appears!” which, while parodying 90s anime openings, wouldn’t be too out of place on a Ninja Sex Party album. We’re also treated to Arin singing himself on 80s style power ballad “Vegeta’s Serenade”, where Dragon Ball character Vegeta attempts to suppress his hatred of Goku in order to serenade his wife Bulma.
While his vocals have proven divisive among fans and detractors down the years, one thing that cannot be denied is that Arin’s voice acting skills have made him extremely versatile. While he tends to prefer using his normal voice, he does admirable impressions of Vegeta and Donkey Kong Jr., as well as imitating Snoop Dogg on “Welcome to the Mario Party”. Dan shows a decent amount of versatility too, however, that isn’t really what he’s here for. He’s here to provide the melody and harmonies that make each song’s hooks, and he more than accomplishes that. The choruses stick in the listener’s ears and are easy to sing along to, while his deadpan delivery on Overwatch-themed Beastie Boys parody “Blowing the Payload” is expertly delivered. While there aren't as many guests on this album, Brian Walters (of Epic Rap Battles of History fame) provides the voice of Sora from Kingdom Hearts in “The Simple Plot of Kingdom Hearts”.
The main problem with The TryForce is that when songs don’t hit, they really don’t hit. “Donkey Kong Joonyer”, while possible intended to be annoying, completely fails to land with its dumb humour and just plain grating chorus from Arin. “The Simple Plot of Kingdom Hearts” isn’t necessarily a bad track, but it lacks memorability, as does “This Song Sucks”, which somewhat ruins the end of the album by ending on an autotuned fart solo. Humour is subjective, but fart jokes just feel like cheap humour which only really tends to chime with younger or more immature fans – maybe that’s what Starbomb are aiming for, but it still feels like a disappointment. Some of the tracks feel like a waste of time, too, with “Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Skit” being a 30 second ad for the Game Grumps produced game Dream Daddy, and “Arin Checks the Mic” is a decent freestyle rap, but could have been time better used for a real track.
Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that Starbomb have pulled out all the stops to ensure that their likely final album sees them finish strongly. If they had been able to keep out the overly childish humour and fart jokes, I’d be able to say that. But instead, it still feels rather hit-and-miss. The good tracks are great, but the bad tracks are either forgettable or plain bad. It’s a shame, because it’s clear that the members of Starbomb and backing band TWRP have a lot of talent and songwriting ability. But maybe that’s why they’ve decided to call time after three albums: Pushing out video game parody albums has a limited shelf life, and maybe they felt it’s better to go out while they still feel able to write these songs, rather than force themselves to keep going and drain the creative well dry with even more repeated jokes. And you never know, maybe they will come back one day. But if not, at least there’s Ninja Sex Party.
Starbomb’s new album The TryForce is out now (self-released). Stream the album below and follow the band on Twitter.