Downtown Battle Mountain

AMG Review of Downtown Battle Mountain

Eduardo Rivadavia
All Music Guide

Like many bands hoping to survive the burning wreckage of emo-screamo's Hindenburg, Sacramento, CA's Dance Gavin Dance play the "eclectic" card on their 2007 debut album, Downtown Battle Mountain, an album that verges on the loaded tag of "progressive," it's so far removed from those genres' distant roots in good old-fashioned hardcore. In fact, hardcore's minimalist ethos also couldn't be further from Dance Gavin Dance's unapologetic virtuosity and unorthodox song structures, which encompass ever-shifting time signatures, dizzyingly complex interplay between rhythm and lead guitar licks, and two separate vocalists tackling beauty and the beast roles simultaneously. And yet, not even all of these instrumental acrobatics can mask the record's maddening inconsistency, and for every striking piece of writing like "Lemon Meringue Tie," "Antlion," and "Open Your Eyes and Look North," there are equally forgettable exercises such as "Strawberry André" and "The Backwards Pumpkin Song" (what's with the fruit theme, anyway?). Also, even if you normally despise Cookie Monster vocals, co-frontman Jonny Craig's regularly hysterical yelping may change your mind forever (he actually sounds like Michael Jackson in the bottom of his range!). But hey, this sort of thing worked wonders for the similarly grating Circa Survive (maybe the girls can feel the singer's vulnerability when his voice cracks on the higher notes), and song titles like "It's Safe to Say You Dig the Backseat" and Surprise! I'm from Cuba, Everyone Has One Brain" might work as diversionary tactics to distract kids from the inconsistent music itself. Whatever the outcome, Dance Gavin Dance are walking a fine line between paving the way to the future and frying to a crisp with that big old flaming zeppelin.