He's got a voice with the uncanny ability to drop you right into the song, whether it's defying gravity on one of his nightmare carnival rides, or sitting across the seat from a demented hitchhiker, gun to your temple. And this is one of the things that makes Mike Patton one of the greatest male vocalists around today. No matter what Patton is singing, I just can't shake the feeling that all these scenes are taking place in the dead of night- on deserted highways or in abandoned mobile homes out in the middle of the woods- with sinister-looking shadows creeping all around. Lyrically, he's still penning the same ghoulish, b-horror-movie tales about murderous hitchhikers, gruesome deaths, and coming-of-age sexual deviance, but the carnival dementia emblematic of much of the Bungle work is laid aside here in favor of a warped rural landscape. At times, he'll whisper in a low-key croon other times, he'll turn into the monster under your bed, howling out these outlandish visions at the top of his lungs. It doesn't much matter who Patton's playing with here because, like almost any project in which he's involved, the showcase in Tomahawk is on Patton's vocals and lyrics. I suppose the fact that Tomahawk convened in Nashville to record the album may have something to do with their oblique take on country music. Tomahawk, while much less prone to these rapid, schizophrenic musical shifts, is still dipping its fingers into a number of different territories, with a tremendous bent towards Patton's style of heavy metal and a twisted, barely recognizable brand of country. Bungle is often typified by the band's ability to leap musical borders in a single bound, seamlessly blending genres like heavy metal, polka and surf guitar. Tomahawk finds Patton joining forces with three lesser-known guys from three well-known bands- Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison, Melvins bassist Kevin Rutmanis, and Helmet drummer John Stanier- for a project that attempts to continue his recent genre-defying leanings.
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