There are many sub-genres of rock and metal that intersect at a cross roads. This album finds itself straddling the fence at such a place. The juntion where stoner rock meets prog. Less metal and more jammy, they do not bring the thunder of crunch until midway into the second song. That is not ineffective in fact they glide along on Pink Floyd like groove up until that place. The album sounds amazing in terms of tones they have perfected here. Much like Pink Floyd is great music to get stoned to, and yet are not full of the fuzzed out swagger than makes something stoner rock, the same can be said of this album. It gains some bong traction with the nuzzing riff of "Hours". It kind of feels like All Them Witches in a way. Not as hooky and they jam things out more.
"Mammoth" starts at a more casual pace. You can hear how a band like this is related to doom, the vocal tone falling somewhere between Dave Grohol and Ozzy. The vocals on these guys albums continues to improve and streamline into sleeker melodies. They are singing about riding mammoths through the snow and the ice ages as a metaphor. The gutiar's continue to shine on this song, with some of the best guitar solos I have heard all year in terms of the tone and tastefulness. The stomp on the distortion to shift the dynamics. There is a denser fuzz, but not what I would call metal.
This assessment is given further credence with the more relaxed tone to "Avalon". It breezes by, with the vocals and drums anchoring it. The close the album with a more introspective moment, as the vocals are more hushed in the delicate musing. It builds into a more rocking riff and there is a guitar solo that steals the show, but these acts of wizardry do not hold as much weight for us here as songwriting. Not to say these guys are not great at what they do this song is not as strong as the others on this album, but it is still pretty effective. I will give this a 9.5.
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