Labels: Deep Elm
Review by: Mike Whelan
In these days of excessive pigeonholing, it’s a relief to come across a band that can’t be defined so easily. Red Animal War are Original (the capital “O’ is intentional), sure, there’s a bit of Fugazi and Braid in their sound, but listening to “Black Phantom Crusades’ is like listening to something irrefutably new.
From the slow-paced, dark opening track “Still,’ through raucous, explosive songs like “Making Zealots’ and straightforward rock efforts such as “The Day After Yesterday’ this album oozes quality from every precisely placed chord. At their finest Red Animal War sound huge. The songs are intricate, well crafted and deeply layered.
Some of the strongest, and loudest tracks such as “Gattaca’ or “Jambalaya’ puch like a machine-gun, never letting up for more than a couple of seconds, and when they do let up it’s only so they can hit you harder the next moment. Occasionally the constant aural assault does let-up, but even on tracks like “Straight Lines For Construction Workers’ Red Animal War still sound very impressive. Saxophones and keyboards occasionally rear their decidedly un-rock-like heads but they blend so well with the abrasive guitars that you never notice.
After listening to this album a few times I knew I’d heard the best Deep Elm release of the year. Red Animal War deserve to be massive. Their sound won’t appeal to everyone, “emo’ types into Saves The Day and their other sunny cohorts will run screaming from the blatant anti-pop sound of “Black Phantom Crusades,’ but those interested in post-hardcore infused rock will be blown away.