PERMUTATIONS

A genre-bending prog rock mashup of styles, replete with influences that mostly sound extremely modern (there's a high-quality post-rock and math rock foundation to a lot of their music) but with some interesting diversions here and there. (In particular, opener Symptoms has this pulsating, rhythmic style which feels like it's taken from prime zeuhl.) The fact that it's credited as being recorded at "The College of Wizardry & Bongo Fury" is a hint to the band having a good sense of humour, but the music here is serious and smart, offering a technical tour de force with quality compositions that don't ever descend into aimless noodling or waste time with filler.