Are you in the mood to inflict a headache upon yourself? If the answer is yes, then no problem -- slap on your headphones, load up the 2007 release by the Number Twelve Looks Like You, Mongrel, hit play, and voilà!, you should soon get your wish. This is certainly one of the "busiest" rock releases you're likely to hear, as it appears that the Number Twelve Looks Like You's main goal is to cram as much musical activity as humanly possible into each composition. And the gentlemen are quite adept at their respective instruments -- it's pretty intimidating to think how much practice and woodshedding they must have endured to get these complicated math formula-esque compositions sounding just right. The bandmembers have obviously studied their Mars Volta and Dillinger Escape Plan albums from front to back, as evidenced by such supersonic freakouts as "Imagine Nation Express," "El Pinata de la Muerte," and the delightfully titled "Alright, I Admit It...It Was a Whore House." Both intense and complex, there's very little room for error on Mongrel. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
Singer Jesse Korman, describing the album, has stated:
"We don't want to sound like anybody else. We stepped it up to the point where we've killed everything we've ever done previously, while a lot of bands that started out heavier have seemed to be going more melodic and easier on crowds — at least that's the trend. It seems to be the path a lot of these heavy bands are going these days, and we didn't want our fans to be like, 'Oh no, it's all just going to be melodic.' We wanted to make sure we really kicked some ass [on Mongrel]. I don't know where we fit in, genre-wise, but this record's definitely something you've never heard before. On top of being incredibly heavy, there's stuff in there that's just the catchiest stuff I've heard in so long."[citation needed]
In a lead-up to the albums release a number of cryptic postings concerning the album were found on the internet by fans of the band. These included a video clip featuring a snippet of "Sleeping With The Fishes, See?" and three websites, displaying lyrics to "Grandfather" and "Sleeping With The Fishes, See?" as well as album artwork.[1][2]
Album Concept
According to Jesse Korman, in an interview with MTV, "the whole theme behind the album ismongrel...you can't really define what a 'mongrel' is — it's just a crazy mutt — and all of our songs are just all over the place. We wanted this album to be just complete chaos, with no direction at all." [3] Korman further states that "While there's no thematic link between the Mongrel and the LP artwork...the cover features a humanoid creature that suffers from schizophrenia and [this creature] embodies the unruliness of the music." [3]
Track listing
"Imagine Nation Express" - 4:16
"El Piñata de la Muerte" - 2:18
"Jay Walking Backwards" - 5:25
"Grandfather" - 4:39
"Alright, I Admit It... it Was a Whore House" - 3:35
The album was intentionally leaked onto the internet in its entirety on June 14, 2007.
The track "El Piñata De La Muerte", which should correctly be titled "La Piñata De Muerte", translates in English to "The Piñata of Death". According to the official website, the song is a revenge fantasy about Jesse Korman's abusive stepfather.
Mongrel is the best selling album in the first week in Eyeball Records history with over 2,000 units moved.[4]
In its opening week, it reached a Peak Position of 19 on the Top Heatseeker, and 34 on top Independent Albums Billboard Charts.[5]
The title of "Sleeping With the Fishes, See?" is a reference to the movie Orgazmo.[citation needed]
