Mouseoleum

Mousecapade (The Life and Death of Sgt. James A. Cheese) is a narrative concept album that follows the story of James: a simple, pious mouse who decides to leave his simple life on his father’s farm to fight in the Vietnam war.

The album begins with a harrowing and disorienting recreation of the chaos of warfare by combining harsh distorted guitars, grindcore-esque drums, and piercing screams with samples and synthesizers. It then follows James’ dark descent through the nine layers of hell as depicted in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Tracks 3-11 depict James’ journey down through the layers with pounding industrial instrumentation coupled with dense sound design to place you directly into this twisted reflection of Dante’s Hell. Those of you who are familiar with the contents of The Divine Comedy will be able to follow along with the story and listen for subtle (and not-so-subtle) references all throughout the album.

Despite having a consistent undercurrent of Industrial Metal, the overall genre of the album is difficult to pin down, as the attitude and vibe of each song change multiple times a track as it follows James through his perilous journey. Rather than sticking to traditional song structure, each song on this album consists of two or more scenes that tell a linear story. These scenes are often drastically different from each other, so you’ll be on your toes from beginning to end.

Mousecapade is not the final installment in James' story.