dan's jams - music reviews

What do you say about a band with no words? This album is a widely varied work, at times channelling an indie-alt-metal vibe, to a certain somber jazziness, which invokes as much Neurosis or Jesus Lizard as it does Dismemberment Plan or Traindodge. All of the songs are widely varied in their own rights, maybe they had singers lined up and they all backed away from howling over all of this. Mike Patton could handle it, but last I heard, he's booked 3 times over. Which is fine, because this music does stand on it's own - while it sports the long song times of doom metal, it doesn't succumb to the trancy repition and subtle changes that that genre often displays. They're not afraid to sprawl messily for angst's sake (Can You Guess How Much That Guy Weighs), nor are they afraid to lay down a sparse and moody base and build it up slowly (A String of Dead Words). If you can abide songs sans words, this is good stuff.