The Number Twelve Looks Like You have always been that band that would come close to winning me over, but never impressed me enough for me to listen to their albums more than three or four times. With their previous release, Nuclear. Sad. Nuclear, there were songs I thought were innovative and worth making a fuss over and then there were the songs that I didn't care for altogether. Because of that, I honestly predicted that I would hate Mongrel, The Number Twelve Looks Like You's latest offering. Surprisingly, I found myself more impressed with this release than anything else they've done thus far.
Mongrel starts off with the opener "Imagine Nation Express", a diverse catastrophe of chaos, jazz, and the signature clean parts, which happen to be extremely catchy on this CD. The next memorable track is "Jay Walking Backwards" which begins with beautiful ambience that I didn't expect from this band. They really introduce a lot of new sounds on this record and the diversity and technicality keeps this whole album, for the most part, pretty fresh.
Another example is the percussion solo in "Sleeping with the Fishes, See?" which is followed by great clean singing, one of the many vocal styles on this album. The uniqueness of the vocals and the transitioning between their styles really picked up a few parts on the record. For instance on "Et. Piñata De La Muerte" there is a quick sing-along section with clapping and suddenly the vocals change to deep, monstrous growls. Another part of the CD, which showcases the death metal-like vocals, is from the final song "The Try (Thank You)" where the vocals synchronize with the guitars and drums. It's by far the heaviest part on this record but overall I think it's a weak way to end the album.
Overall, I expected by the end of this record that I would indeed lose interest of the songs. Again to my surprise I was still enjoying the chaotic yet well formed and well balanced tracks this album was dishing out. And for that I have to give The Number Twelve Looks Like You a lot of credit for finally creating an album that I can enjoy for more than a few listens before almost completely forgetting about it. There are definitely enough styles and a unique sound on this record to keep me coming back for multiple listens. I would recommend giving Mongrel a try, even if you weren't a fan of this band.
