Impressive. That word pretty much summarizes what Dog Fashion Disco's latest effort is. This band from DC has released probably one of the most intriguing records of music history. Dog Fashion Disco's music is unusual, yet captivating. It easily sticks in your ears due to the band's unbelievable mix of melody, weirdness and heaviness. With vocals that can range from screams similar to Powerman 5000's Spider1 to melodic lines reminding of Mike Patton's versatile voice, guitar riffs that are at times amusing, and at others harsh, groovy and solid bass lines, and precisc, creative drumwork, is there anything wrong with Dog Fashion Disco? Their oddball lyrics combined with impressive work on the keyboards gives the band an almost satanic vibe, at times making them sound even a bit morbid, with lines such as "the cure for clinical depression is a lobotomy", "satan loves you, so does jesus christ" or even "a corpse is a corpse, of course." Hey... so what? Dog Fashion Disco mixes genres such as jazz, funk and metal, giving their own cartoonish flavor to create an stylistic sound heavily influenced by the infamous Mr. Bungle. Yes, you can still sense the influence of the new metal's sound (i.e. Pervert), but the keyboards definitely distinguish their sound from other 90's bands. Sennen Quigley, the musician behind the instrument, creates genious, amusing and cheerful keyboard parts that completely stand out through the entire album. Todd Smith's vocals, at times helped by some effects, hypnotize the listener by their power and versatility. Greg (guitar), John (drums) and Steve (bass) are incredible musicians as well. Dog Fashion Disco is a band that aren't afraid of experimentation, and the results of these experiments fortunately can't disappoint any 90's metal fan. It's music is vicious and entertaining. Standout tracks would be Leper Friend, for it's beautiful vocal lines and melodies that aren't seen in other album tracks, The Satanic Cowboy, a really unusual track, with a heavy use of the keyboards (kinda remind me of Looney Tunes' cartoons. I love it,) and God Crisis for it's inumerous change of tempos. Co-produced and mixed by Drew Mazurek, who already has worked with bands such as Nothingface, The Embryo's In Bloom is a must have. With such versatile musicians and a great singer, is it a surprise that this band is turning out to be one of the underground's most underestimated bands? Not to me. Dog Fashion Disco's formula of mixing genres in a creative way is almost as refreshing to the music scene as a pool or an air conditioner on a hot day. Originality and competence, two things that are missing on today's music, can be found in excess on this truly amazing album. Weird, but wonderful.
(5 / 5)