12 Rounds, My Big Hero

Remember when "Pretty Hate Machine" came out? The combination of Neubauten-esque agresso-percussion with Depeche Mode's ear for synth-gloss production and song construction? Toss in a bit o' self-indulgent Gen X whining and boom: you had an ideal synthesis of alternative noise (remember when you could say that word without being smacked?) and pop presentation. Over ten years later, Reznor's gone prog and attempts by major labels to replicate "Pretty Hate Machine"'s boundary-smashing success usually equate to pop groups dying their hair blue and name-dropping The Cure in interviews (Evanescence, AFI). In the interim, however, Reznor signed a plethora of bands to his Nothing label who ended up ranging from the ubiquitous (Marilyn Manson) to the amazingly elusive (Prick). One such band, 12 Rounds, manages to walk the same fine line between the commercially digestable and the artistically compelling that Reznor did, although with a completely different swagger.

12 Rounds deliver an elegantly self-produced second album in "My Big Hero" that evokes a darkly antiquarian world in a fashion somewhat similar to Rasputina. However, while everyone's favourite gawth-cello gals position themselves in turn-of-the-century New England, 12 Rounds shimmy on down the Eastern Seaboard in a southernly direction, and end up in swampy cabaret territory. Steel guitars are picked in a sinister fashion, and organs slither all over songs that smell like old paper. There's a hint of Nick Cave in the delivery, and 12 Rounds own up to the influence by making use of the instantly recognizable organ riff from "Red Right Hand" on their own "Where Fools Go". In a classy move, they give Cave and Mick Harvey songwriting credits on the track.

For all of its promise, though, "My Big Hero" lacks somewhat in actual substance. The record glistens with professional gloss and is an interesting listen as far as instrumentation and layering goes, but all of this can't disguise the fact that there's not a great deal lying beneath the trappings. The last track, "Mr. Johnson Take A Bow", is the only one compelling enough to drive the band's aesthetic to the haunting reaches it is capable of. 12 Rounds have obviously spent a great deal of time perfecting their sound, but the lack of memorable songs on "My Big Hero" leaves you wondering what the band could be capable of if they honed their songcraft.

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