INNATE PASSAGE

Over the last year, I have been exploring the breath of psychedelic hard rock and metal, wanting a sound that is a little more ethereal than the sludge of the doom side of stoner metal and maybe just maybe some musical flourishes of prog. That search led me to Elder and their most recent album Innate Passage which contains 5 songs clocking in at 53:53.

The opener "Catastasis" sets the stage, starting with echo-y guitars very much in a post-rock vein but quickly bringing in a heavy guitar groove and then the synths. Vocals finally enter at 2:45, and are definitely more of a textural layer than a lead element. Both vocals and the overall groove sits somewhere between Mastodon and Pink Floyd. In the Mid-point is a riffy guitar break compete with twin leads reminding us that this music has its roots in the 70's. The entire song lasts about 10 minutes and covers a lot of territory but the mood remains pretty ethereal throughout. Nothing is jarring or harsh. The band definitely knows their audience and delivers.

The rest of the album follows the formula and the vibe but keeps introducing new themes, new elements, new angles. In spite of the length of the songs and the consistent tone, I never come close to getting bored. The multi-layered sections vary from smooth to complex. Lots of rhythmic ideas, many composed lines, guitar leads, different types of keyboard tones, plenty of echo and reverb, you get the picture. If Motorpsycho went completely heavy psych, you would be pretty close to this sound.

The individual components of this music are not new. At the same time, I personally have not heard them combined in quite this way and certainly not this well. I would guess that one's response to this music would mirror your response to the many styles they are drawing from. For me, those are some of my favorite styles so finding this album was so exciting that I considered it a personal birthday present (I was born in November when it came out.)

So for me it's a 5 star. YMMV.

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