A general issue I have with genre-blending experiments is that they usually don’t deliver on their premise. John Zorn’s Naked City rarely does either, usually alternating between its jazz and grindcore instead of truly melding them into a uniform sound.

Without that, this is just two separate genres on one album; a novel collaboration, but hardly a combination. I actually quite like the lounge jazz parts, but the styles of Naked City sound like they’re competing with each other for supremacy instead of teaming up. This ain’t a fusion—it’s a grab bag.