Music: The Sound of Animals Fighting: Tiger & The Duke

Our Take

To say that The Sound of Animals Fighting's newest album was disappointing to many a fan would be a bit of an understatement. Lover, the Lord Has Left Us saw the musical super group taking an even weirder approach with their experimental music and adding in bizarre Indian wailing and less guitar work. Now, the band has re-released their out of print first release, Tiger & The Duke. While this release might be the better one for listeners interested in checking this band out, it still may have just a little bit too much filler for most.

Tiger & The Duke is composed of an Overture, four Acts, and three interludes. The four acts are quite interesting and showcase plenty of complex guitar riffs and tempo changes, at times seeming like a more indie The Mars Volta. However, The Sound of Animals Fighting always likes to make use of electronic elements in tandem with heavy guitar riffs to produce a somewhat trippy atmosphere. The issue with this is that the electronics are also used to make quite a bit of filler content on this release, with there being not enough actual songs. However, as long as listeners know that they're in for a couple of intense tracks with plenty of extremely spacey filler in between, they won't find this to be an issue. For those that have heard this album before, this re-release features remastered songs as well as remixes of many of the original versions, making it worth a listen for those that already own the first print.

There are quite a few people from a variety of bands involved in The Sounds of Animals Fighting project, which means that Tiger & The Duke features a variety of different vocal styles. There are the trademark high pitched wails of Anthony Green from Circa Survive, but this album features a good deal of screaming (whereas Lover, The Lord Has Left Us seemed to be shying away from this style). Because of this element the album has a bit more energy than its follow up, but this could also turn off some potential listeners.

While The Sounds of Animals Fighting's first CD is much better than their second, it still has a little bit too much filler content. There is sure to be a devoted following that really gets into this album, but not everyone will be able to make it through the psychedelic interludes littered with electronic compositions that are weaved in between the intense and faster paced songs. If you've been into experimental rock or any of the bands that the members of this collaboration are involved in give it a go, but don't expect the ordinary.

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Chris Dahlberg
July 21, 2007