The Number Twelve Looks Like You have always been a very unorthodox band to say the least. They've been trying something new with each album and it's no different with their latest album, Worse Than Alone. Pinning them to one genre is difficult because they incorporate so many different sounds into their music. A basic description of it can be "mathcore" but even that's a bit too broad to describe them. Basically, what you get with Worse Than Alone is, crazy guitar riffs, jazz-style drumming, a dual vocal attack (similar to earlier Blood Brothers) and a cocktail of different music styles that include grindcore, jazz, progressive rock, metalcore, flamenco and a whole bunch of others. That all sounds like a huge mess on paper, and it was in the case of some of their older songs, but the band actually sounds somewhat cohesive on this record, more so than any of their previous outings.
The main thing that's different about Worse Than Alone is it shows The Number Twelve Looks Like You at their best, as a band rather than individual musicians. It's really interesting how the band manages to pull off so many time and genre changes without them sounding out of place or completely random. Take "Marvin's Jungle" for example. This begins with light guitar tapping and spoken word vocals, but then it slowly evolves into a chaotic metalcore track mid-way through, but the thing is that it sounds like a natural progression rather than random noise coming out of the blue. The song takes a few other turns as it slows down back into a more straightforward post-hardcore song before it comes to an end. "The Garden's All Nighters" also is another great example of this. This shape-shifting track begins with a quick jazz drum pattern into a wall of heaviness and then slows back down into a nice jazz interlude with a Latin-flavored guitar solo. The brief melodic bridge is also a nice touch before the song ends.
The most intriguing song on here is the nine-minute closer, "I'll Make My Own Hours," which has nearly a progressive rock feel to it in it's middle section. The light atmospheric passage also contains a wonderful guitar solo from guitarist Alexis Pareja. He also has a few other bright spots later in the song with the quickly picked riffs that come in the song's second interlude. The departure of second guitarist, Jamie Mcilroy seems to not have effected the band terribly as Pareja's has taken the role of performing all of the guitarwork on this album very well.
The members aren't constantly trying to outdo one another, but it's clear that the member that stands out the most is drummer Jon Karel. His drumming has always been the strongest factor of this band, and he really has improved his game on this album. There's even a hidden drum solo between "Retort, Rebuild, Repeat" and "The League of Endangered Oddities" where he goes insane behind the kit. His jazz influenced drumming has improved a lot in terms of power and intensity. There are a lot more flourishes from him found on this album and and you can always notice something interesting about his drumming in just about every song.
While this is Number Twelve's most accessible album to date, it's still a grower for sure. Most of it has to do with the dual vocal attack of Jesse Korman and Justin Pedrick. The duo's screaming style may come off as grating on the first few listens, hell, it may never catch on. As I mentioned earlier, the duo have a delivery that's similar to the Blood Brothers with their shrieks, screams, growls and occasional melodic singing (which there is a lot more of on this album.). The screamed vocals especially come off as annoying on a lot of tracks. There's also quite a few laughable moments on Worse Than Alone like the "Mush, mush, mush, mush" part in "Glory Kingdom," but I'm not sure if they intended that to be funny. "Given Life" also comes off as a weak parody of The Dillinger Escape Plan during the Irony is a Dead Scene-era. It's safe to say that they aren't for everyone, that's for sure.
Despite that, Worse Than Alone is The Number Twelve Looks Like You's best album as a band, to date. It shows them with a more cohesive sound while still thinking outside the box and not drifting too far away from their roots. The band could possibly see themselves moving towards excellence if they continue this formula, but for now they're still progressing and suffering from a few growing pains but it's bound to happen. Bands like this are kind of hard to take seriously with the silly name, song titles and some of the lyrics but just remember not to judge a book by it's cover and you may find something you like in the end. It's worth a shot at least.
