The City Is Alive Tonight: Live in Baltimore
Few can rival underground metal experimentalists Dog Fashion Disco in a live setting, and the group's hometown concert album, The City Is Alive Tonight: Live in Baltimore, captures the outfit's uniqueness, beginning with the cartoonish circus-metal thump of "Worm in a Dog's Heart." Frontman Todd Smith gives Faith No More/Mr. Bungle guy Mike Patton a run for his money when DFD descends into "Rapist Eyes." Here, an atonal grind gives way to a swooning, melodic chorus that only gets bested by the alluring yet disturbing "Baby Satan." If the ferocious, sinister "9 to 5 at the Morgue" is a must for horror enthusiasts, the carnival-like drama of "Acid Memoirs" has more staying power. Dog Fashion Disco is unlike any modern band. This disc and its bonus 95-minute DVD give fans of DFD's three studio records an innovative glimpse at a rising art metal troupe both on-stage and off.