The term supergroup usually evokes visions of boy bands or legendary rockers. This association may be right on the money in most cases, but progressive rock band The Sound of Animals Fighting is redefining the supergroup by combining some of today's biggest names in alternative and punk rock. The band's latest album "The Ocean and the Sun," is somewhat tamer than its predecessor "Lover, The Lord Has Left Us..." (2006) which featured guest appearances from Craig Owens (Chiodos) and Keith Goodwin (Good Old War), among the many others who contributed to artwork or production. This time around, group founder Rich Balling kept the team relatively small, using only the original members of the band.
All members of the band take an alias to further promote the mystery that surrounds the group and its association with animals. Rx Bandits members Matthew Embree and Christopher Tsagakis and former member Rich Balling are the Walrus, Lynx and Nightingale respectively. Vocalist Anthony Green, who appears to be very busy with his solo career and Circa Survive, is the Skunk. Matthew Kelly, a vocalist and member of the Autumns, is the Wolf.
The album starts with a woman's voice and fades into the album's title track, which has a slight hip-hop feel. The drum hits sound like something that would come out of a Flobots album. Green moans and wails over the drum track until he takes control of the song and sings "This house is a holy place, you don't ever have to leave/ Every age has said we will call, we'll come again." The rest of the song contains melancholy and slightly disturbing phrases such as, "The biggest lie we tell ourselves/ We're already in hell/ Blood shines upon us, it maces and covers."
Some of the tracks actually sound like animals fighting --- or at least like loud ambient noise. "Chinese New Year," for example, sounds like it was recorded live in New York City on, you guessed it, Chinese New Year. A lot of songs end with strange ambient noise and people talking about random, unintelligible things. "Ahab" starts with pure static and electric noise, followed by a woman talking about what she saw in the future. This continues for about a minute before the album moves on to the final track.
Most tracks on the album, however, mix styles and genres while maintaining a progressive feel. "Cellophane" shows some jazz influence through the use of a muted trumpet. This quieter sound is, of course, followed by a massive breakdown into screaming and guitar-thrashing that increases the tempo. "Another Leather Lung" starts off well enough and then falls into noise and screaming before picking up tempo and trying to sound like "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X." by The Fall of Troy.
The band also proves they are well-read through two literary references in songs. "Lude" is a dark, mystifying, and creepy piece that is in reference to the character of Lude in the novel "House of Leaves" (2000). There are no lyrics, only soft guitar, ambient ghostly noises and an occasional whisper from Green. "On the Occasion of Wet Snow" is a reference to a section of a short novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky titled "Notes from the Underground" (1864).
With "The Ocean and the Sun," this supergroup decisively returns to its original sound, and certainly does a good job of creating something that is both strange and appealing. Fans of the group, or any of the associated acts for that matter, will find "The Ocean and the Sun" a great piece of collaborative work.
