Kylesa : "Exhausting Fire"

Just when Deafheaven thought they were not going to have any competition this week the new Kylesa drops. The beginning of "Blood Moon" makes you think they are picking right back up at the same dark place they left off at, but then it launches into metal, that they are singing over rather than barking. Three minutes in a they drop back into the dark Doors like place. The opening riff to "Crusher" lives up to its name. Laura voice continues to evolve, the singing overall is stepping into a more confident direction. They drift back into the dark spaced out place and build back up into a some what sludged out riff. At this point it's clear they are neck and neck with Mastodon and have surpassed Baroness.

"Falling" the psychedelics prevail here. They used to cover Pink Floyd, so this side of the band should come as not surprise.  Laura's vocals have a more Siouxsie like croon to them. They find trippy groove that is more surreal than it jam band like. The solo slides in underneath the brief rumble. "Growing Roots" has an angular swagger to it, builds into more Hum like space rock. It eventually winds up into a more rock groove that some how manages to feel more like Kylesa . The more muscularly rumbling "Inward Debate", feels more like a Clutch riff and is a little on the busy side. So it's good they back off into what on first listen struck me as one of the better songs, because it has all the elements they excel at firing at full power. There is a really mean metal riff that lashes out from the more subdued vocal Laura exudes.

Next up is the fuzz out sonic "Moving Day" that reminds me a little of a Pixies song. The vocals have a more post-punk apathy on "Night Drive". The bass tone gets really weird. Laura's vocal become plaintive to the point they would not sound out of place on an indie rock album. There is more of a stoner metal chug to "Out of My Mind" that drifts in a cloud of bong smoke out into space. They continue to  converge back into the more metal chug after their spacey explorations threaten to drift out of orbit. The bass player goes into Geezer Butler mode on a midway into the song."Paranoid" is a drugged out cover of the Sabbath classic that finds the band bringing their own touch to it. It works for me at this tempo.

They close the album with the heavier yet very Sabbath like "Shaping the Southern Sky" . Laura says she is throwing caution to the wind and taking her chances again here. It does wander off into a more heady direction with the bass line holding down the fort. They bring the smack down when they lock back in for the happy ending that blazes out with solos in true rock god/goddess fashion. This one is easily rounded up to a ten as it

10.7