The obvious question is of course, what the hell does the number twelve look like? The guys in SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY came up with a clever answer – a muppet! On the real though, I heard it was a Twilight Zone episode.
Everything about THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU looks like they’re about that artsy-fartsy crap, with a band name, song titles and lyrics that make no sense, which are supposed to be fancy metaphors. From the weird art of completely random items stuck together inside the CD insert (which actually is some damn great stuff), to the chaotic sounds, and so many genres pulled in all at once, it’s something that should just come off as noise.
Yes, THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU is one of those avant-garde bands that should be so bizarre and random that everyone should see right through that trick. But guess what? They’ve had the well deserved reputation for pulling it off so well.
This should not work at all. Emo singing beside death metal grunts. THE LOCUST style chants with shrieked screams. Punk styled chords, the blast beats to random progressive riffs, then on to some jazz rolls. How about indie-pop or classical music runs? I personally loved the screaming on top of flamenco guitars in “Paper Weight Pigs”. They’re able to express this and so much more stuffed into so many songs.
I might need to check back on this one, but I’m tempted to say they could give DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN a run for their money. Would THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU really stuff more genre’s into their songs, be more chaotic than DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN? They certainly have the songwriting skills to make these chaotic messes catchy and fun.
The album title of “Mongrel” is just too obvious to read into. I’d certainly say that I think “Mongrel” refers to the amount of crazy genres all stuffed in, and certainly from what I’ve read, it seems like it’s the bands interpretation as well. At least with “Sad, Nuclear, Sad” you had no idea why the hell they needed a second “Sad”.
9/10
The Official The Number Twelve Looks Like You Website
The Number Twelve Looks Like You at MySpace
The Number Twelve Looks Like You at Eyeball Records
