Seer : " Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void"

Here is a Canadian band brings metallic elements to their brand of harder rock n roll. This makes them more along the lines of a rough and tumble version of Katatonia as the baritone vocals are carried with more balls. I like that this is very melodic and has darker side to it. I wouldn't call this grunge, the vocals are more crooned so there is part of me that wood liken this more to Woods of Ypres. Harsher vocals do eventually come in around the six and a half minute mark. The song begins to accelerate towards a black metal like place , but never commits to it.It is always a good sign for a band if I start off streaming it then by the end of the first song I am clicking to download the whole thing. There is a weighty rumble to "Acid Sweat" which finds the vocals taking on a more aggressive harshness amid the Trouble like chug. The more melodic elements do return. One of the band's strengths is they don't do this trade off in the most expected ways. I do prefer how this is handled more on the first song than the second.While it's somewhat counting straws , that is my job around here so that is what I am going to do.

"They Used Dark Forces" reminds me more of Crowbar. The vocals are more guttural and the guitar that opens the song is heavy as fuck. This album does get progressively more metal as it goes. They are more sludge driven than not when they do break into metal. "Burnt Offerings " is more straight forward and I can hear where it might be compared with that Times of Grace band that spun off from Killswitch Engage as the vocals are similar. The guitar riffs snake their way around the vocals in a more Katatonia manner with rock solos coming out from the cracks. The harsher screams are not as forward in the mix.

Once we get into the second part of the album there are more acoustic passages and things that sound like they might have come from an Agalloch song. The last song is actually a real song. The vocals are mixed in a way that makes them sounds very distance. The phrasing is different than what was being done earlier in the album so I appreciate it.The song itself drones along for the first six minutes then builds up in the last minute. While I was a little bummed out that half the album turned into folk guitar doodles , the songs are here are really fucking excellent. I'll give this a 9.5.