OF NATURAL HISTORY

Greetings ladies and gents! Step right up to the Sleepytime Gorilla Museum! Looking for lush, gorgeous melodies? Looking for blissful, peaceful, melodic music? Looking for a nice, easy to like sort of prog? Well we're going to have to advise you to visit a different museum!

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum isn't about melodies. They're very much about using noise and dynamics to their advantage. Now this may seem like a horrible thing to some, but you really have to listen to the band to understand where they go with their music. First of all, many of their instruments they invented themselves. These aren't beautiful melodic instruments. Most of these instruments are specifically designed to make noise, and lots of it. Now enough about the band themselves, let's get to the album.

The album overall, while being a very acquired taste, is a satisfying and very interesting listen. The quiet parts are by no means beautiful (except in perhaps the opener), but they contribute to setting us up for the noise to come. It might seem like a repetitive strategy, but it pays off. The album also flows effectively, and has a sort of primitive feel to it often, which works with the bands style greatly.

There are some weaker songs, however. The opener, while pretty, is kind of cheesy. The Creature features disgusting but effective lyrics, but overall isn't that great. Babydoctor has some really great moments, but as a whole drags on.

Aside from the weaker tracks, this album is great. Most definitely not for everyone, but if you are really open to crazy avant-garde metal, this album should be satisfying. 4 stars.