Frodus

Part hardcore, part math rock, part bowel shattering grunt metal, the ever unpredictable and tough to pigeonhole Frodus finally harnesses their energy into something resembling actual music. Although far from a pop record, And We Washed Our Weapons... offers about the closest thing we've heard to a collection of songs from this trio in their eight-year history. Taking the over-the-top crunch of their three previous records and injecting it with a little more melody and instrumental noodling, DC's Frodus have started to sound like some of mid-Western purveyors of weirdness like Shiner, Guilt and Hum. The apex of this disc is the six-minute instrumental track "Belgian Congo," which is not only complex, but relentlessly pummelling, too. Not as visceral as their Conglomerate Inc. CD or as shrill as F-Letter, but it's every bit as challenging and rewarding.