There seems to be quite a lot of debate on the internet on how to describe these guys, and it seems to vary from post-prog to sludge to prog metal to anything inbetween. It is safe to say that they have listened a great deal to Tool (and in fact have toured with them), have interests in jam band style jazz and have a penchant for buzzsaw riffs. This is an album that has grown on me, but it has taken quite a while and for some time I just felt that it was boring and that I was totally over it. But, when you get into the heart of it there are numerous layers and complexities to discover. They do hit the downtuned chord very well, and fully understand how to get that Fu Manchu heaviness of chords, but it takes a a long time for the listener to fully get inside their mind and understand what is going on.
It would be incredibly easy to just play this once and say that there is nothing going on, but this is one of those where it is worth the effort. The producers John Haddad (Exhumed, Phobia) and Derek Donley (Bereft) have done a great job on the whole, although the snare drum can be a bit intrusive at times. They are soon to undertake an American tour supporting Meshuggah and Animals as Leaders and that should be something to see.
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