Review Summary: "Flesh is heretic, my body is a witch, I am burning it."
Tiger And The Duke was certainly an interesting approach at Progressive Rock. Though the music displayed the familiar characteristics of the genre, such as psychedelic ambiences and dextrous instrumental passages, it also exhibited a release of energetic intensity that reflected the Punk-influenced backgrounds of the band's members. The Sound Of Animals Fighting, for those who are not already aware, was a group of musicians that were brought together by Rich Balling, which predominantly consisted of members from; Rx Bandits, Circa Survive, Finch, and Chiodos. Tiger And The Duke displayed a style of music that was much more abstract than their respective backgrounds, but it didn't exactly takes us into unfamiliar territories. The music of the album expressed itself as a coalescence of the ambient textures found in Circa Survive with the more aggressive deliveries of acts like Finch and Chiodos.
For the most part, Tiger And The Duke was a truly mesmerizing performance, but it also projected minimal flaws that kept it from being a more enjoyable album. It was composed by 4 acts that consisted of orchestrated music, separated by instrumental interludes that often felt longer than they needed to be. The interludes induced a strenuous listen because they were nothing more than ambient noises that served no further purpose but to fill in time. But now, in this new reissue, they have been reincarnated with a much more harmonious touch. And though their newly reworked sound makes for a better listening experience, they still feel like an unnecessary component of the album. The musical acts have also been reworked, but with minor alterations. For example, in
"Act I: Chasing Suns", we find that the instrumental elements remain relatively the same, but the vocals display minimal differences in their deliveries.
But in it's latter section, we find that this reissue transcends past Tiger And The Duke, including remixes of tracks from their sophomore album,
Lover, The Lord Has Left Us…. With several of them being reworked by Portugal. The Man. Their re-imagining of
"Skullflower" is perhaps the highlight of this particular section of the album. It has been recreated with a decorative coating of psychedelic effects that make for a truly entrancing experience. We can really see the band having fun with these remixes as they explore numerous approaches. Experimenting with several musical styles such as the Electro-Pop rendition of
"St. Broadrick, His Mistress, And The Blacksmith" to the atmospheric Dub incarnation of
"The Heat". This a pretty interesting reissue, and within it's wide variety of content, has something for every fan of the band regardless of what particular album your most fond of.
