Reviews : Albums : The Number Tweleve Looks Like You, "Mongrel"

Listening to The Number 12 is like listening to Dillinger Escape Plan playing the soundtrack to Tim Burtons Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and while John Zorn tunes up his band in the background. The noise level on this album is unbelievable, and the freeform aspect of these pieces is nothing I ever expected. This is a prime example of what people are calling math rock. You need a physics degree to figure out the time signature on these songs and a PHD to actually figure out how the instruments work together.

The vocals on the Number 12 call back to a time of Born Against, Heroin, and other Ebullition era bands. They are crass and screechy and don’t waiver from that delivery at all. The geometric bass lines are mind-boggling and the guitar parts rival bands like Scarlet and Suicide Note. I guess this is the logical progression that started with the Bad Brains, to Burn, to Candiria and now bands like the Number 12 that embraced alternate forms of music like jazz to redefine the boundaries of their music. To be honest, this is a little pretentious, especially around the middle of the record, but I also can’t deny that they are pretty high on the originality factor here.

Myk