Guiltless : "Teeth to Sky"

This band's EP earned an 8.5, as it sounded almost too much like Neurosis. I love Neurosis, but I also own all those albums already. Featuring members of Intronaut and A Storm of Light, they are established sludge veterans. The challenge here is going to be able to do something aside from paying tribute to Neurosis. Those elements are present, but the guitars are doing more to add a layer of atmosphere that shows you more of who they are. The throaty howl of the vocals might be the most limiting element of what they are doing. Even Neurosis uses varied vocal approaches. By the second song, this is starting to cast a more uniform haze over the songs. It is a little heavier and crunching, but that is not enough of a dynamic shift to maintain for the album.

Some people will become enamored by the heavy guitar tone they captured here. They write angular riffs that are weighty. But a song is a story and every story needs to go somewhere. "Our Serpent in Circle" finds the vocals shift. It is a bellow, that comes closer to singing. The song itself slows to a doomier pace. This works better, while there is more brooding in the title track, the atmosphere does put things in a more Neurosis-like place. "Lone Blue Vale' trudges down a similar dark path as the previous songs with the painful howl of the vocals. 

The drummer remains impressive on this album, but they need to get away from this guitar tone for the sake of writing songs is it takes things back to the same place all too often. The last song has a chance to break from what they have been doing though it is almost too little too late. There is a little more ebb and flow and almost has an industrial feel, though plods along with a purpose more like doom. I will give this one an 8.5, as well, so they perform at a very consistent level and it sounds less like Neurosis than the previous album but churns with a predictable fury.Ironically released on Neurot Recordings, so it's Neurosis approved.  

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