Tomahawk

Mike Patton is one of the more prolific songwriters of the past few years, being an active member of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle simultaneously and also doing many many side projects at the same time. He tends towards less mainstream efforts (such as collaborating with John Zorn) and his current bands other than Mr. Bungle are definitely off the beaten path. Tomahawk (I'm not clear on if this is the evolution of the Peeping Tom project or something completely different) is likely to be of interest to the post-modern alternative rock crowd.

Tomahawk sticks to more traditional song patterns than Fantomas did on their debut album, though not necessarily going verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-verse-chorus. Featuring Duane Dennison on guitar (Jesus Lizard), John Stanier on drums (Helmet), and Kevin Rutmanis on bass (Cows, Melvins) Tomahawk is sort of an alt-rock supergroup if such a thing is possible. They carve their own unique sound out of the hole left by the demise of FNM, and could certainly be said to be the heir to the throne without being in any way derivative.

Sort of an aggressive rock for thinking people, Tomahawk is complex and challenging in ways that I'd forgotten rock could be. Moody soundscapes deteriorate into raw punk into silence and all so smoothly you don't realize it. Lyrically, Patton is at his finest and most obtuse, highlights being the truly disturbing Flashback dark God Hates a Coward the sparse "Honeymoon"