This is a definite improvement over their last disc.? Expect six at times lengthy tracks of diverse "stoner rock" that tends to explore a much wider range of influences than most such bands.? The vocals are somewhat akin to a more restrained Goatsnake and sway towards a strained rasp at times, almost a shout, but I really like the singing and the dude is great for this style, so they ought to hold onto him for sure.? Musically there's a foundation of sludgy grooves happening, but there are some more metallic influences at times as well, with songs like the title track even exploring some unusual clean passages that layer guitar parts together and wind around quite a bit.? "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" opens fast and furious with an all out rock ?n' roll break that quickly slows down and ends up leading into what becomes a seven-minute piece complete with a strange ambient bass break with oddly harmonized vocals and sparse clean guitars.? The 10-minute epic "Manna" opens with clean and acoustic guitars alongside distant vocals delivered in a lower, softer style with female accompaniment that makes for a much darker and more unexpected twist to the band's delivery.? Distortion finally kicks in with some noisy lead work around seven minutes in, making for a really powerful surge that caps off this rather impressive foray into something different and unusual for the genre.? Closer "Violet Sky" opens with a similarly laidback approach complete with keyboards and congas, eventually building up into a darker track that has a heavier sort of undercurrent going on than any of the preceding material.? I definitely find the back and forth shifting from distortion to acoustic guitars more effective in this outing than in some of the earlier tracks such as "Reaching Empyrean".? There are definitely times when some of this material loses its focus and wanders on a little long, but regardless everything marks a pretty surprising step forward for these guys.? And there's also "Evacuate": A fucking raging cover of the mighty Negative Approach chock full of chunky chord progressions and a sweet vocal performance that perfectly balances throaty texture with hints of singing. Awesome, awesome work. I'm impressed. The recording's much better this time as well. The mix is pretty even, the tones are warm, etc. There's room for improvement, I'd like to hear the bass given a little more breathing room and I think a bit more volume and clarity would help pull some force forth from these songs, but I think they've got a pretty nice sound happening here for an independent release. I still have gripes with portions of the layout, but the cover art (which is shown in full on the four-panel foldout) looks pretty interesting. The band photos and psychedelic purple textures look pretty stupid though, thus ruining the consistent aesthetic followed elsewhere. Lyrically there's a decent amount of abstract material befitting of this particular niche of the genre: "Overcoming blood and fire, the names will fade and I will wade through the wake of time, with nothing changed, I will move on through time..." There are still some kinks to work out with both the recording quality and the songwriting, but these guys are progressing nicely. I could definitely see fans of this genre digging this record, and if this growth continues I bet their next one will fully win me over as well. That Negative Approach cover is a fucking scorcher, seriously. I'm all fucking over that! There's a lot of cool stuff going on here, and the band is very close to really hitting home.
[Root Sucker/Black Locust]
Running time - 37:22, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Evacuate, Manna, Violet Sky]
Ichabod - http://www.ichabodrocks.com
