The Sound of Animals Fighting
isn't so much a band as it is
Equal Vision Records
' version of
4AD
's old in-house studio party
This Mortal Coil
: the band -- who appear in creepy-cute animal masks in all of their photos and use pseudonyms derived from same -- has no fixed lineup, but includes members of
RX Bandits
,
Circa Survive
Chiodos
Days Away
, and
the Autumns
. Freed from expectations of their own bands, the group creates an utterly bizarre but often engrossing blend of
experimental
noise
and heavy
stoner metal
. Imagine if
Sun City Girls
and
Meat Puppets
had collaborated circa 1986 and the combination of twangy guitar riffs, heavily processed vocals, and arrhythmic bangs and squeaks of the eight-minute centerpiece
"Stockhausen, Es Ist Ihr Gehrin, Das Ich Suche"
will start to make a bit more sense. Supposedly recorded with each member of the band playing in complete isolation under the direction of producer and mastermind
Rich Balling
, unable to hear what was on the other tracks, the album has the fractured and occasionally tedious feel of a spontaneous "happening," but at times, everything comes together into actual songs like the haunting
"Skullflower,"
a genuinely pretty song that's only strengthened by the random
bursts that flit across it. ~ Stewart Mason