Eleven:Eleven

The name of Underminded's sophomore effort, Eleven: Eleven, was inspired by a series of coincidences experienced by bandmembers surrounding that number. This, in turn, sparked their collective curiosity in exploring the nature of palindromes in general, and seems to have infiltrated their songwriting process itself, though not to the point that their lyrics are constituted of repetitious echoes, nor codified numerical strings, thankfully. Instead, the group's enraged screamo remains largely preoccupied with political and social issues, which occasionally make room for some gratefully rare, emo-styled relationship whining. Vocalist Nick Martin's wild-eyed, savage cries find their ideal foil in his bandmates' impressive musicianship (and mesh perfectly with guitarist Matt Johnson's dissonant squalls on "!Ya Basta!"). But the latter virtues also compromise the simple pleasures of slam-dancing with their unorthodox rhythms, making cerebral appreciation a grim necessity, not an option. Not all is lost, however, since the band does come up with a few more direct and immediate numbers in "Lord & Wolves" and "Empty Handed Painter," so listeners can get some instant rewards without getting drawn into this freaky business over the number eleven.