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Fantômas
SUSPENDED ANIMATION
(Ipecac)
Stars graphics

Even for fans of noise rock as art, Mike Patton’s metallic supergroup have always had an air of pretension about them. But this time around, on their fourth album, Melvins guitarist King Buzzo, Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, and Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn team up with Patton to create an amusing concept album. Suspended Animation is dedicated to the art of cartoons as well as to April 2005 — each of the 30 songs is titled for a day in April, and the elaborate 30-page CD booklet is a calendar illustrated by Asian pop-cartoonist Yoshimoto Nara. It’s difficult to single out any song because the whole album is one epic noise jamboree. But it’s a joyful kind of noise, full of heavy, blistering bursts and beautifully creepy mellow tones — imagine the soundtrack for a cartoon snuff film done by Stockhausen after a night of drinking and a serious crack binge. Fantômas fuse metallic grindcore and experimental art rock in ways that are so unpredictable, you never know what’s coming next. An educated guess: there are 11 more months in the year.

(Fantômas headline with the Locust this Wednesday, April 13, at the Roxy, 279 Tremont Street in the Theater District; call 617-931-2000.)

BY IANN ROBINSON


Issue Date: April 8 - 14, 2005
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