My Big Hero is 12 Rounds' full-length follow-up to their debut EP, Pleasant Smell. First off, this album is scary. Real scary. As in lock- the- doors- and- hide- under- your- bed scary. Fraught with intriguingly spooky frequencies, it would make an ideal soundtrack for a "Faces of Death" video.

If Portishead frontwoman Beth Gibbons lowered her notoriously high-pitched voice a register or three, she'd sound considerably like 12 Rounds' vocalist, Claudia Sarne. Sarne wails and howls her way through the album while bandmate Atticus Ross fuses samples, loops and sound effects into an electro-goth haze, making its pitch-black darkness even darker. "Come On In Out Of The Rain" opens the album on an eerie note, with piano chords straight out of a 1970s slasher flick, while "Where Fools Go" was cowritten by Mr. Happy himself, Nick Cave.

While Ross' soundscapes are definitely inventive, they sound a bit excessive and overproduced, and even overpower Sarne's vocals at times. My Big Hero is truly a find if you're in the mood for a tale from the darkside, but if you're not, you might consider keeping it on hand to scare innocent little trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

-Susan Moll