Apostle : "A Splinter in the Infinite Noumenon"

 This Atlanta trio plays a dark, chaotic take on hard-core that at times has the desperate sound of screamo. The opening g track "Exiting the God Hologram" finds atmospheric dissonance colliding with a feral frenzy. There are bits of breathing room allowed to create tension. The sound swirls around you in a more experimental way than what you normally get from this sort of thing, as it ends with a more expansive post-rock atmosphere. "Illusion of Loss' finds the main vocal squawked in a more abrasive manner than what the music seems to be calling for at this point, though it's a murky sonic swamp of sounds that floods your ears here. 

"Swine' is a noisy, punishing barrage. The vocals begin to feel a little like a one-trick pony, though they are layered with a more typical hardcore shout. Blackened tremolo-picked guitars cut through the murk. They are almost getting lost in their own chaos here. "Distortions of Light" finds samples being woven around dreary post-rock guitar before colliding with things in a more downtrodden sludge manner. I like the dynamic juxtaposition with this one, as it is dark enough for me to forgive the vocals for sticking to the same old, same old. The noisy ambiance is one of this album's defining traits and the band's strong suit. It is almost shoegazey in places. 

"Oscillating Polarities" finds the screaming continuing as the beatings improve their morale.There is less of attempt at the guitars creating melody here, as things just sink into the blood soaked feeding frenzy with death metal growls joining in. They do return to a woozier shoegazing guitar tone, that is allowed to ring out amid the temper tantrums. The noise eventually consumes the hardore heart of this song. 'At Ease' closes the album. It is over seven minutes long but almost a minute of fat could have been trimmed off that lead in. It's not as frantic, but I  am more focused on where the meldoeis are going to come from and how is this going to hook me in. They are less certain about this part and try to just wash things away with hypnotic post-rock.I will give this an 8.5 as I appreciate the direction they are experimenting in, perhaps in time they will grow into this sound and be more song focused, Drops on Terminus Hate City June 5th. 

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