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It takes a lot of balls to open your debut record with an unrelenting fusillade of Steve Vai-esque shredding before getting to any vocal hooks, but that’s exactly what this Michigan-based prog duo have gone and done.
Sure, marvelling at such musical bravado has become more acceptable since the boom of tech-metal, but it’s still a bold way of introducing yourself to the world. One minute later, and opening track Gift unfolds into some of the most unapologetically euphoric sounds the djent scene has ever produced – you can almost picture these musicians trampolining off clouds into amaranthine rainbow galaxies.
It’s hard not to notice the massive Devin Townsend influence, only without the twists and turns that make his music so ominous. The enamelled soundscapes of songs like Stimulus and Karma certainly make for an intriguing and satisfying listen, venturing through serotonin-loaded realms of unpredictably without ever becoming too laborious or stale.
