Don Caballero

Earlier this year, in a departure from its usual practice of signing Metalpalooza bait such as High on Fire and Nile, record label Relapse picked up a few instrumental-only bands, the most prized of which is semilegendary progger Don Caballero, whose members are free on waivers from Touch and Go. Because Relapse is cutting the checks, fans would have every right to expect a return to the dizzying Slayer vs. ELP mishmash with which they'd flipped out the world in For Respect. The band's whiz-bang talents concentrate on fragile, clunky, and appropriately mangled emo sounds suggesting the likes of Mineral, all of their metallic violence expended on liftoff track "Mmm, Acting, I Love Me Some Good Acting," a stab at what might result from Ministry's trying to work off some nasty microdot.