“Mon Amour” isn’t Dungen’s best track because I can pronounce it properly, though I admit that does help when trying to convey the song’s carnivorous, foot-stomping majesty and general ‘awesomeness’ to friends and acquaintances. This song is unquestionably, unequivocally exceptional, and that may honestly be the best way to put it.

The problem, I’ve found, with attempting to ‘explain’ the brilliance of the forthcoming Tio Batar, or even Ta Det Lungt (2004) for that matter, is the invariable need to air drum to my heart’s content or pull off my best Eddie Van Halen impersonation when words won’t suffice. Simply put, boring phraseology like ‘wild riff fervor’ and ‘fire sticks’ sound too nebulous to be academic, way too stolid and jutting to get at the easy flow of the song, and come nowhere close to elucidating this elusive and aforementioned “awesomeness.” Cause and Effect is equally retarded as a concept in this context and also littered with niggling problems: the effect, put simply, is singular and “awesome,” the causation not unitary, but multifarious and synergistic. But how else to explain the resulting overwhelming sound than to draw the kind of unreasonable comparisons that, in this instance at least, point to no unscrupulous pinch-pocketing by the band, but more a lack of imagination on the part of your reviewer. Yes, Dungen have slayed me. I’m sorry.

The reality, though, is that the first half of “Mon Amour” sounds a lot like Electric Warrior’s (1971) best material as filtered through pungent psychedelics. Then, three minutes in, it trips out into a double-speed clusterfuck of shred monomania before riding a groove that’s as blissed out as it is brutal, with the best improv feedback squalls and hissing wires this side of Daydream Nation (1988). It sounds a lot shorter than its nine minutes, much of the credit going to guitarist Reine Fiske’s ability to seduce some startlingly exciting sounds out of his instrument without becoming too obvious and without compromising the ear for rhythmic precision that dominates the song. What seals it ultimately is a tough balance between the traditional aesthetic pop sensibility of verse/chorus/verse (plus the catchiness that implies) and the way in which the complex structure, tone and tempo shifts ingratiate the hard granite rock with fiery texture; a balance pulled off here in such effortless fashion and with such inspiring confidence as to not just be admirable, but totally, totally awesome.

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