Kayo Dot :"Blasphemy"

Here is a band I have paid attention to for some time.Toby Driver is the main creative force behind it. I would say I have a serious appreciation for them. They are like a more avant garde version of Leprous. Their previous album was darker. This time around we find them after they have obviously smoked a shit ton of weed. The opener eventually gets darker and more emotive as it builds, It has more of a shimmer to it.The second song carries more movement with the busier patter of the drums. The vocals are less over wrought and smoother. Not that the delivery on the previous song had anything wrong with them. There are metal elements but I would not say this is a particularly metal album, though it will appeal to metal fans.

There are some really cool guitar tones. The clean ones are crisper and have more depth than when they try to bring the crunch. There are some vocals tones as well as guitar tones that touch up[on the kind of post-punk that is often called goth. "Lost Souls on Lonesome's Way"  is more proggy, yet not as urgently pulling you in as the first few songs. There is a guitar solos that breaks out, but the song as a whole doesn't grip me as urgently. There is a more delicate touch to "Vanishing Act in Blinding Gray".  It does build in a quirky manner that takes the song in a more dissonant progressive direction not unlike Belew era King Crimson. This vibe carries over into the song that follows it as well. I prefer the darker touches to "Midnight Mystic Rise and Fall:". At time the emotive vocal inflections remind me or Robert Smith or Rozz Williams.

"An Eye For a Lie" sounds almost like the new trap music version of Liturgy. The vocals are better though. It is as angular as a Frank Zappa song. The song floats off into a kind of atmosphere that sounds like what the album cover looks like. The title track this album ends with is pretty dramatic , but falls more in line with what your typical progressive rock band might do in 2019, just without the excessive guitar solos. If you like the idea of progressive rock , but do not like guitar solos then that is even more reason to check this album out. I will give this album a 9, it's easy just to leave on and let play.