Destroy the Light (Deluxe Version)

The debut project from Minsk's Sanford Parker and Yakuza's Bruce Lamont (along with a number of guest collaborators) is, in many ways, a perfect summary of what metal in 2010 is — something that values Swans, Killing Joke, Ministry, and any number of crust/hardcore bands as classic rock touchstones. "Invisible War" kicks it off feeling a bit like Jaz Coleman fronting a symphonic power metal band, and from there Circle of Animals explore various strands from other sources in their own version of DNA splicing. Lamont's singing may be a primary point of interest for those who only know his saxophone work — on "Seminal Animal" his vocals are definitely aiming at the kind of deep-voiced pronouncement from a blasted landscape that Michael Gira effortlessly conjures up as drums rumble ever more explosively around the arrangement. From there the album tends to oscillate between those and similar extremes, vocals alternately laden with static/echo or crooned darkly while the music either jerks spasmodically or pounds darkly (or, unsurprisingly, both) — even, on "Poison the Lamb," finding a goth/industrial crunch not all that far removed from the Smashing Pumpkins' "Ava Adore," if still a hell of a lot meaner and, with wordless female vocals from Lamont's sister Kelly, adding a further touch via the Gathering in turn. Sometimes their sense for the epic takes on better forms in more compressed ways: "...And Together We Are Forever" isn't quite a power ballad as such but by taking a different singing approach and sounding more romantically moody over three minutes, they steer away from simply crunching skulls to aiming a bit at the heart as well. But the concluding title track, starting as slow burn instrumental and slowly shifting into galloping motorik-tinged jam, shows they might succeed even more by going the opposite direction.