Review Summary: The New Jersey quintet has crafted their most mature, refined, and experimental release to date with their fourth studio album, Worse Than Alone.
I have to admit, when a friend of mine recommended that I purchase The Number Twelve's first album, Put On Your Rosey Red Glasses, I was a little bit skeptical. The band's name alone, which was inspired by an episode of The Twilight Zone for those who aren't "in the know", is more than enough to raise a few eyebrows and provoke a few chuckles. Even so, curiosity eventually got the better of me and I finally went out and got the album after a few weeks of putting off, and to be perfectly honest, I hated it for a while. Now keep in mind, this was during an awkward transitional phase in my musical life where names like My Chemical Romance and KoRn were still relatively close to the top of my "favorite bands" list, so when the unbridled chaos of Don't Get Blood On My New Prada Shoes came through my stereo speakers, I almost went into shock. The CD then sat in its case for a couple more weeks until I decided to give it a proper listen with an open mind, and I eventually realized that what I had at first discarded as mindless noise was really tightly structured and (fairly) controlled chaos, admittedly a little rough around the edges, but very few debuts come without flaws.
The band progressed and matured quite a bit over their next two albums, each one having a more noticeable focus on both composition and experimentation, and their latest effort, Worse Than Alone, is no exception. Worse Than Alone consists of what is arguably the band's most compositionally strong material to date, as well as some of their most experimental ventures. Perhaps the most immediately noticeable change would be in the instrumentation, with the focus being shifted more towards creating interesting, churning rhythmic passages rather than constantly relying on the flashy instrumental flourishes that the band has come to be known for. Now don't let the fact that the group has decided to show a little restraint fool you into thinking that the album is devoid of any noteworthy instrumental performances. In fact, some of the band's most interesting and original instrumental work is on display here. Jon Karel's jazz influenced drumming is just as fluid and proficient and it's always been, and has actually taken a few steps forward in terms of intensity, and even with the unexpected, and seemingly unnoticed, loss of James Mcellroy (most sites and publications are still referring to them as a "sextet" for some reason) the guitar work on the album is still stellar, and arguably more coherent than ever before. However, the biggest improvement lies not in the individual performances of the members, but in the way the band functions as a unit.
The group has never really had a major problem with this, but there have been times when one particular member would manage to get ahead of the rest of the group and make a particular part feel a bit lopsided. It's quite interesting to hear how the group manages to pull off so many time, mood, and genre shifts, and still make them all feel like fluid, logical progressions. The Garden's All Nighters is a superb example of this, shifting back and forth between pseudo post-rock sections, off kilter clean sections, chaotic grind(ish) sections, almost bossa-nova like jazz pieces, and melodicly centered secions, all without feeling forced or awkward. The only real problem with the instrumental aspects of the album (and it's a pretty minor problem) comes in the production department. For the most part, the album is mixed superbly, utilizing the usual "wall of noise" approach that's grown abundantly popular lately, but at the same time, keeping things clear enough to where no one instrument or voice gets in the way of anything else. However, there are occasions where the added low end of Alex Pareja's newly procured 7-string guitar has the effect of muddying the clarity of Chris Russel's basslines. Thankfully, those instances are few and far between, and they often occur during especially hectic and clustered sections of the album, so it usually goes unnoticed.
However, the instrumental aspects are really only half of the bigger picture, the other half obviously being the dual vocals provided by Jesse Korman and Justin Pedrick. For those who have always been irked by their higher pitched deliveries, this album won't do to much to change your feelings about them. Thankfully, the album does contain quite a bit of vocal experimentation, something which the band hasn't focused on
too much until now. Aside from the regular high pitched shrieking, a much higher focus has been placed on lower pitched growls (for those familiar with the band's earlier work, think the growls found in songs like Jay Walking Backwards instead of the pseudo-pig squeals found on their first album). On top of that, the two also focus quite a bit on their clean singing, which has improved vastly over their horribly flat and almost laughable performances on their debut, as well as an eerily low pitched clean delivery almost reminiscent of someone like Peter Steele of Type O Negative. Even things like gang shouts have been included, though thankfully they distance themselves from cliched things like bro-chants, opting for more of a "group shriek" kind of feel.
All things considered, Worse Than Alone has turned out to be the groups most mature and most enjoyable release to date, and nearly every aspect of the band's ability has improved noticeably. The album manages to keep from getting too boring or repetitive by constantly shifting nearly every aspect of it's sound, and it does so without getting lost in self indulgent wankery, and it never really becomes to much to handle, two things that threatened to happen to Mongrel, and occasionally did. Whether it was the loss of guitarist James Mcellroy, or some other factor unknown to the rest of us, The Number Twelve Looks Like You has finally managed to take all of their respective talents and mold them into one, unified force, and it shines through beautifully. It really makes one wonder how they'll go about topping this...
