Battles

Since Battles involves the leader of Don Caballero and the drummer of Tomahawk, there might be the hype, somewhere, of those elusive super-groups, but heck, Battles just ain’t no Velvet Revolver. Living up to their band name and then some, this is a serious affair with every angular, jerky math and prog guitar burst coming out like Battles are indeed at war with the standards of rock music today. Interesting and layered? Maybe. Enjoyable? Sometimes. Skipping song titles with actual "words” in them, "B+T” and "Hi/Lo” probably have the most metal/math tinge to them, but they never really soar, leaving the experiments lugubrious and plodding. The inclusion of electronic bursts, noticeably on "Uw,” does add some variety, but doesn’t lift it up too much. The serious intent and tone tends to bore rather than demand attention and having it schizophrenically switch around hinders rather than inspires. It’s doubtful that Battles will be thrown on to get your party started…but getting rid of that last errant houseguest? That’s another matter.