Aside from a few (thankfully scarce) somewhat annoying guitar effects used in a few tracks, this is easily Meatjack's best work to date. It's more diverse, more emotional, and yet somehow more direct, despite working in more little details and influences. The forceful vocal yells reside under a very faint filter of distortion, there are plenty of frantic tempo changes and an erratic emphasis on rhythm, stellar distorted bass plays a huge part in the texture of the material, subtle melodies are mixed with caustic chords and some amazing clean passages, etc. "Cold Flight" has a great calm break with some intense volume swells and layers of guitar/bass textures that create a really thick, but subtle sense of melody before a crushing doom rhythm comes in; "Face Down" is largely instrumental and brings in some dissonant arpeggios over another plodding rhythm (heavily driven by the percussion); and closer "Crawl" is a monstrous 13 minutes of almost hypnotic sustained notes and consistent rhythms. And check out the acoustic and slide guitars in the bluesy, and aptly titled, "Blue"!? The recording is great. The drums sound superb, totally warm and natural, the guitars are somewhat thin and a bit grating, but the massive bass presence holds them down perfectly, the vocals rest right in the heart if all, and the levels of distortion all possess their own unique texture that works together without cluttering anything up or getting too abrasive. The layout's not bad. The artwork was done by Stephen Kasner, and the accompanying photos are also nice, granted some of the shifts in color scheme and typefaces can be somewhat jarring. But for the most part it looks cool. The center panel inside has some handwritten lyrics on it, keeping things concise and open: "Were I to be there one more time now, To fly and see beyond the divine, I would, My eyes still gleaming from the cold night, Shall I deceive you one more time, I will rain down." Very nice. There's still some room for improvement, but the best material on this disc far outshines Meatjack's past work, so I certainly hope they continue to progress in this manner.
[At a Loss]
Running time - 41:04, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Cold Flight, Face Down, Sea of Tranquility]
At a Loss Recordings - http://www.atalossrecordings.com
