Spectral Lore : " Gnosis"

This album begins with a more metal churn than some of their more recent stuff that has gone more Pink Floydy. This is not to say that it is without experimentation , because they are not shying away from that. Even though this excursion is 49 minutes long , they want to call it an ep,to point out how experimental this is according to their Bandcamp page, which comes off a little contrived. Perhaps they are referring to how much of this material makes up actual songs and not wandering jam. There is a similar pulse to the second song and title track of the album as there was to the first until they finds a more galloping riff. If there are whispers and screams around they are very low in the mix and accent the edges of the riff, which lumber up into something more like stoner rock than black metal. These guys are far from slouches and there is some excellent bass playing on this song.

The first of the two acoustic songs is "Averroes Search" . This one carries a similar exotic prog feel as the first two songs, but of course making no attempts to be heavy. It's excellent guitar work, not so sure about song writing as it simmers for almost five minutes before finding its groove. This is an album guitars will want to take note of , as it covers the ground once walked by the likes of Opeth, but in a darker context.They head back towards metal, though not the blacker kind, on "A God Made of Flesh and Consciousness". This is one of the album's more sonically intense and dynamic songs, though still more of a jam and less of a song even by the band's standards.They do speed up a little four minutes into the fourteen minute epic. At the midway point it breaks into a acoustic section with samples running faintly in the background. the guitar gets more aggressive than they have in some time, more at a mid paced thrash like attack. "For Aleppo" finds them breaking things back down for a mellower tone. This song seems to want to go some where , but doesn't it stays right where it started, some indulgent guitar playing over a static layer of synths. Aside from this these jams display another side of them musically, one that feels like a step closer to mainstream metal, but impressive in it's execution. I'll round this up to a 7 because it's not just a shred fest.


3.4