These Midwesterner's make noise purported as a ritualistic symbiosis with nature, as indicated by song titles such as Black Branches, Visage of the Fox, Antler Mask, Fangs and Arrows, etc. Oddly enough, this music doesn't strike me as either ritualistic or natural, but maybe I'm misreading their intentions and they're just pranksters.

Behold Secret Kingdom for the most part comes off as an intense jam session. Unlike other underground jam bands such as Jackie-O-Motherfucker and No Neck Blues Band, this music is not rooted in free-jazz or hippie folk. It comes across closer to a very loose limbed rock band. It's not easy to identify where the structure comes from within most of these tunes. The players all seem to be doing their own thing, banging out riffs anchored by fine drumming.

The only problem is that the onslought of intense riffs rarely lets up. It's not really aparent that each player is listening to each other, as is the case with any good improvisation. Sometimes it sounds like the band is at war with itself, as if each player is trying to out-do the other.

Having said all of that, if taken in small doses, Behold Secret Kingdom can be enjoyable, as the band clearly can play. There's a cathartic intensity to much of this material which makes it hard to dismiss. It helps that Mike Dixon's recording and mix is crisp, loud and clear. You can hear each instrument with a lot of clarity, important for such multi-directional music. Racoo-oo-oon have a lot of potential, and based on this flawed, though interesting release, I'd recommend keeping an eye on them.