AMG Review of Men

Stewart Mason
All Music Guide

Form of Rocket come from the Mr. Bungle end of post-hardcore camp, where deliberately fractured, noisy arrangements meet hectoring vocals. Men won't sound at all outré to the average fan of, say, the Boredoms (or, for the old school, Captain Beefheart), but in comparison to the multitudes of cookie-cutter screamo bands, Form of Rocket sound almost original. The main problem with Men as a whole is that the album is nowhere near as assaultive and abrasive as the band seem to think it is, which makes it fairly thin gruel for genuine noise-rock fans. This is particularly disappointing because the album's one standout track is "Teapot Dome, Bitch," the one song that gets away from the blaring feedback and on-a-dime dynamic shifts to create an atmosphere of steadily increasing tension. So Form of Rocket have the potential to be a really good instrumental post-rock band in the style of Explosions in the Sky or Mono, if that's what they chose to do.