Compressorhead, a band of robots, brings heavy metal performance to Union Square on November 12

Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider once told music writer Lester Bangs that their project was not a band, but rather a machine. The pure literary or physics-based definition of machine might disagree, but Bangs understood what they were getting at. As he himself noted during the same feature, "anything a hand can do, a machine can do better."

If this philosophy causes you great distress, you should stop reading before the next paragraph.

A band comprised entirely of robots will be performing at Union Square in New York City on November 12. GE. as part of its Brilliant Machines advertising series, is bringing Compressorhead, "the world's heaviest metal band" for a performance.

The band, named as such because "Machine Head" was already taken, plays covers of such bands as Pantera, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. Drummer Stickboy has four arms, which is an unfair advantage in our mind. Guitarist Fingers has 78 of the titular digit, another unfair advantage. Bones is the bassist, which is not what people go to heavy metal shows to see.

Obviously the fact that they play only covers is somewhat disappointing. However the group lives up to the standards of many bands by having a humorous distaste for its fans, whom it refers to as "meatbags" on its website. Also impressive is how long of a set the band can play. Compressorhead is scheduled to play from 1-8 p.m. on Tuesday. That is, of course, unless someone hits Fingers with a bottle.

Oh, and yes, the band is from Germany. So if Kraftwerk doesn't do the trick for you, there's no doubt that Compressorhead is a true, German machine/band.