BANTAM TO BEHEMOTH

...and I don't say that often. It took me a couple of minutes to adjust to the avalanche of noise coming through my headphones upon listening to the first track of Birds and Buildings's debut album "Bantam to Behemoth." After getting used to the onslaught of sound somewhere in the middle of the song, I started the song over in my CD player. Now that I tuned my brain into Dan Britton's behemoth, I started the song fresh. It is lterally amazing what is going on in this song. It is incredibly complex and extremely intense. It redefines what is meant by a "wall of sound."

After the wild ride of the first track, songs begin to show a mix of mellowness, more of Britton's craziness, and some solid numbers mixing in ample amounts of jazz rock/fusion and symphonic prog, with an amalgam of other styles thrown in, making this a delightful eclectic listen. Comparing this band with others is almost pointless. There are some references to King Crimson, Magma, The Mars Volta, and even a little bit of Genesis, but that hardly seems to scratch the surface.

This album blew me away upon first listen. After repeated listens, many of the songs grew even stronger, but alas, a couple of weak spots began to show. The one that is most obvious are the vocals and their delivery. Their often drowned in the chaos, seem out of place at times, and are delivered in an almost mumbling spoken form. Generally they're incomprehensible and no lyrics were provided in the insert. By incomprehensible, I don't mean they make no sense, I mean they cannot be heard correctly. No big deal though, as the vocals are quite sparse. Overall, I don't think this one weakness brings down this masterpiece, but I only mention it for the sake of listeners that have issues with this.

But buckle up your seatbelts, because you will surely need them. It's like driving your 1975 Cadillac Eldorado into a supermassive black hole and anything that gives me that feeling deserves a worthy five stars. Nice job, Mr. Britton. I'm looking forward to the next B&B release.

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