The Apes

The Apes have always relied on a minimal arrangement of organ, bass and drums to play their loud and distorted haunted-house rock, but this methodology belies their actual sound, which is harsh, melodramatic and, well, noisy (not that that’s ever been a bad thing). Listening to Baba’s Mountain, which is loosely structured as a concept album, is definitely an adventure, but it can be exhausting to wade through the busy backgrounds and vocal drone on tracks such as “Baba’s Mount” and “Imp Ahh” to find the actual melodic meat. The Apes are best when they focus on the songwriting and move just a step or two away from Paul Weil’s numbingly constant death-toll chanting and — as on “Who’s Left Alive” — experiment a bit with Amanda Kleinman’s eerie, childlike falsetto. This album will not disappoint Apes fans with its intensity or its primitive, driving beats, and it may prove to new listeners that an organ can be heard through an entire album without causing physical pain. Most travelers, though, will head halfway up this mountain and, their heads becoming too full, decide to turn back.