Night Raider

Starting with a three-part, 18-minute instrumental, "Time of Ye Life/Born for Nothing/Paranoid Arm of Narcoleptic Empire," it's clear that Justin Greaves and his Crippled Black Phoenix ensemble were aiming for an emotional experience with Night Raider. The album plays like a sepia-toned soundtrack for a futuristic spaghetti Western, borrowing from Ennio Morricone's scores, Pink Floyd's synthesized movements, Explosions in the Sky's dynamic builds, and Muse's post-pop/rock awareness. In fact, Muse's "Knights of Cydonia" video from the same year, which featured cowboys and laser beams, seems like a perfect setting for this sort of music. "Along Where the Wind Blows" breaks up the long-winding desert storm dream sequence, as a dead ringer for a Tom Waits song, complete with a gruff vocal part by Matt Williams and some convincing Rain Dogs sideshow instrumentation. Elsewhere, there's a grandness to everything, representative of a storm building on the big open horizon, with sound swells, classical woodwinds, tremolo guitars, and complex horn arrangements. It isn't until the second half of Night Raider that it shifts into Brit-pop for two songs before rolling back into a tumbleweed lull for the remainder. Like Tomahawk's Anonymous, it's the type of conceptual album that appeals to a select audience, designed as a straight listen, but for those looking for monumental background music, it's as hefty as the 16-person cast would suggest. ~ Jason Lymangrover