Album Due out on September 9th on Epitaph Record
Listen to the whole thing now at www.MySpace.com/TheSoundofAnimalsFighting

I love to create impossibly anthropomorphic situations around bands: If Radiohead and Sigur Ros were to mate (don't ask me which is the female... I couldn't tell you), and their lovechild were raised on a commune populated by Tool, Mr. Bungle, Massive Attack, Beck, the Mars Volta and a Persian Spiritual leader - perhaps we would produce the Sound of Animals Fighting. Instead, this band comprises an amalgamation of such bands as the RX Bandits and Circa Survive amongst others.

The Ocean and the Sun is a sprawling, progressive album of seven minute songs and two minute interludes. There are spoken word sections, complex instrumental interludes and meaningful metaphoric meanderings - all of the things one would expect from a modern and youthful progressive rock project. What saves The Ocean and the Sun from crossing a line and being as pretentious as the first paragraph of this review is genuinely good songwriting.

Within the first minute of the second track (the first real song and title track of the record), there is an eirie, but instantly catchy melody. Upon continuing, one realizes that, through the instrumental acrobatics and complexities, there are genuinely good hooks here. These melodies and the pop sensibilities allow an emotional core to show that is often missed in progressive music.

The Sound of Animals Fighting, on paper, could very easily have been a group of young musicians attempting to stretch a little bit far beyond their musical means. Instead, we find a great melodic rock record with a little more focus on a journey and less focus on editing.

While it may not be music you want on in the background when you're trying to get laid (though occassionally it does work out that way), it is indeed a good idea to give it a listen.

And hey, you can listen to the whole record for free by CLICKING HERE!