It is rare for a band to inspire me to dig back into their catalogue. This album is the sound of a band moving forward in a way that made me compelled to hear where they have been. Formed by former members of the Accused in 2007. Nine years ago it would have been reaching to call them a doom band, and even more so today as the fall closer to being some form of proggy death metal. The vocals are varied and a good blend of sung vocals and growls. The opener has almost a black metal like throb to it. These guys are dark in a manner that makes me think of what might have happened if Acid Bath collided with Cynic. While neither band is really a direct influence on the band things like the spacey keyboard sounds zooming out of the corners of songs not inhabited by guitar solos brings Cynic to mind.
The fourteen plus minutes of " La Brea Borealis" opens with a commanding vocal. In some ways this reminds me of when Mastodon was transitioning into a more progressive direction, just without any of the Thin Lizzy influence. Sonically finding them closer to sludge than any other sub-genre as it stays at a steady throb. Six minutes in the more chanted vocal line helps establish a pretty cool groove, before they come down on you with an industrial hammering. The intensity doesn’t relent with the he thrashing charge of "Kosmoceratops" is spurned on by the vomit filled vocals howling behind the snare. It's a sprawling battlefield of nasty thrash coming at you like a drunken mammoth on trucker speed. The pacing of this song makes me wonder why at this point in their career anyone would use the doom word around this band, or even stoner considering the type of metallic shit storm they throw themselves into on a song like "Aquailibrium". When the band slows down to cast a more atmospheric shadow on things two minutes into the last song.
I like how varied the vocals on this album are, though not really crazy about the whole every minutes reaching ten minutes thing. Some old Slayer like falsettos crop up to further solidify the whole thrash theory, even though this is set against some more melodic and introspect movements that further enhance the dynamic range. Even with this album’s long and winding songs, the weird myriad of genres that combine in the most twisted way possible to bring me back for multiple listens. These guys might be proggy, but they are never awkward and puts being mean and heavy before showing off their chops.