Vattnett Viskar : "Settler"

I am glad this album doesn't sound like its cover. You learn that real quick when they start off with blast beats. A very American take on this, but black metal just the same. When it slows the song improves despite taking on more of a Deaf Heaven quality.  On "Yearn" the blast beats come to an end and their sounds morphs into more of a sludge band. There is more of a melody even against the rasp of the vocals. Like Enslaved they take the songs through some interesting twists and turns. When they pound the point home and get mean on this album it feels meaner than the last album, despite the fact that as a whole this album is slicker.

With a slamming blast of well mixed double bass right into your fucking face  they make  "Impact" live up to the song's name. I didn't take note of the doubled almost gang vocals that are thrown into it until a couple of listens. There is a powerful but smoother groove to "Glory". The tight chugs on this song demonstrate how the riffs on this album are catchier, making it  in some ways  a more accessible listen. No denying the album is  pretty hook infested. This is not a bad thing, they have not suddenly turned into Killswitch Engage. The bass player really makes himself known on "Glory" when it breaks down. At times you can hear the band break off  from the typical American black metal sound and go in a proggy direction rather than the dip into sludge they took earlier, though this does arguably have some of the post-rock leanings USBM bands tend to have. When they hang on the blast beat it takes on a more atmospheric drone. I know atmospheric is one of the words commonly used in conjunction with this band, but I think that is only one element of the intricate design in place here."Heirs" starts of in a more typical black metal direction. It's the drumming that keeps it from getting stuck there. In parts it sounds like something Russian Circles would be proud of.

On the title track the drummer really shine when he is not in the more straight ahead pound that propels some of the bridges. The guitar is well layered and this album sounds great from a production stand point. The mid range rasp of the vocals is typical over driven. When they dip down into the lower darker riff it has tons of power behind it.  This album is much more melodic than the previous one, in fact my iTunes was tricking me by going in to Alcest as soon as a song ended and at times it was hard to tell  where Alcest began and Vattnet ended. They close on a heavier note. The vocals take on a more run of the mill growl. The floating post-rock parts flourish. If we wondered what Sannhet might sound like with vocals this is not far from it. The melodic builds still pack a punch to them as they send you floating off much like the cover of this album. They close out with a sweeping guitar solo, that proves they have the chops to pull it off when they want to. If you miss when Mastodon wasn't writing radio songs and instead was  really heavy with a sense of adventure, then you will certainly dig this album.I dig it enough to round it up to a 9.