Kibosh

Kibosh definitely represents an evolutionary leap in Lafcadio's discography. Throughout the Indiana band's sophomore effort there seems to be an oscillation between powerfully regulated, densely organized wall-of-sound style metal and delirious, spasming, often sublime experimentation. The first track sets this album's epic tone. From the sweetly electric, noisily ambient intro to the prog rock noodling to the tight metal meat of the song, this track seems to constrict like a closing fist and then to spin off centripetally in bizarre divergences from traditional song structure. Hardly a breathe is taken between the first two tracks, the second song kicking off tightly and kind of unraveling into a gorgeous sprawl of soloing balanced out by the barking vocals and mechanically sturdy, pristine but still asymmetrical percussion.  It's all distinctly Lafcadio, and for all the diverse impressions the various tracks on Kibosh leave with the listener, and despite its tendency to tilt towards the scatological, the album is a coherent, unified composition, each track either complementing or dovetailing nicely with the next. The solid progression of the songs expresses an even more articulate vision of the album as a whole than their debut rock opera concept album, Sham Duvet. Guitars and percussion on this album are, as usual, stunning; leads and drums braiding together in an insane double helix of truly inspired rock music. On the whole, this album has all the hallmarks of a gold-standard, discourse-shifting, classic metal album--minus the singles, minus the formulas (except when they're exploited to achieve something interesting), minus the bullshit, and minus the boredom.