BARRIERS AND PASSAGES

truly, their most diverse and interesting album thus far; mixing influences from the brainy math rock/metal we have grown to love, to the black metal dissonance and the downright noise and ambience that saturates this album. With fresh blood, Colin Marston, on six string bass, many of these influences came to the fore (or were at least pushed forward). Of course that is not to say that these boys are not original in their own way (Jeff Eber lists the drummer of Magma as an influence, Kevin Hufnagel loves Sonny Sharrock, they have disparate and wide-reaching influences that shine through here; really these guys are under-appreciated madmen with talent to spare)....on an even par with the complexities of Behold...The Arctopus (Colin Marston's other band)...and every bit as refreshing in a field where typically all you can see is the same flower over and over, they pop out like some monolithic scythe to cut through all of the BS and deliver this short yet effectively exciting album. Simply Outstanding!