EFFLORESCE

Really solid stuff here. The music is mostly a mix of Radiohead, Dredg and Tool, I'd say, combining psychadelic sounds with mixed crunching guitars and soft guitars. Songs like Massive Bereavement (easily one of my top 20 songs EVER) get really heavy and bear an uncomfortably similar resemblence to Tool, probably because the vocalist sounds like Maynard and the drummer is as creative and as fun to listen to as Carey. Other songs like the last three are very quiet and pretty emotional for the most part, sounding like the prementioned cross of Raidohead and Dredg without the Tool influence.

The musicians here are excellent, the vocalist does his job well, and sings prettily in some parts while letting out some decent Maynard-esque yells other times. The guitarists come up with some good stuff all around and osme real good riffs here and there. I compared the drummer to Carey, which is EXTREMELY high praise, and I mean it. He does some extremely creative and difficult stuff. Just listen to the heavier section of Massive Bereavement and you'll hear it. Bassist is very solid and very audible. Overall an excellent performance from each member. Anything to be noted is the production. For a debut album from a band with unknown members, the production values are top-notch and even rival production on the level of Porcupine Tree. Excellent.

Standouts are the last three songs, which may seem to meld together if your attention fades. In actuality, Saturday Morning Breakfast Show is an excellent conglamoration of tension-filled heavier sections and lighter psychadelic parts with excellent vocals. Long Forgotten is as pretty as can be, and WWLMWD is just as pretty. Massive Bereavement is the best song on the album, easily. The rest may seem boring but are nicely executed if you actually listen, like One Day All This Could Be Yours. There's some filler, whether it be in the middle of songs or entire songs (Rinsed, Unravel), but it doesn't detract fro mthe album too badly. I also caught some nasty touches of emo-ness in You Wish, but the rest of the song is strong enough to overcome it. Also, lyrics are very good.

I don't know whether I like this or EiP more...I'll have to say. EiP could very well turn into a masterpiece for me, because if they improved on this album...well.