5 out of 5

Label: Acerbic Noise Development

Producer: Ben Began

It’s like the AND bands went forward in time, read my reviews, then returned to 2006 to attend to all of the nits I picked at and write some incredibly badass albums.  Ganon improved so much between here and ‘Dead of Sleep’ without drastically altering their sound or soundscapes, maintaining the consistent fucka-fucka thumping howl and yet incorporating so many unique elements into each 7+ minute track… breathless.  Now similar to the Chupa Cobras release on AND that I also really dug, Ganon have a tough choice of how to start things off.  The whole vibe of the album is plodding and mood, so while it takes a moment to sync yourself to the cold opening of “Descend from the Wind” – right away with the riffs and the screaming, bringing to mind Botch’s ripping start of “We Are the Romans” – it’s the best decision, as tossing this relatively quicker paced track into the middle of the album would ruin the tumultuous earth-cleaving flow of the what follows.  If I ever have to find a nit with any given post-hardcore album, even the ones I love, it’s generally that, on occasion, you’d wish the band would just stop their shtick and rock.  Ganon, at their pummeling-est, remind me of Keelhaul when they choose to stop the badass fretty riffs and just rock out.  But here the formula is reversed.  Ganon lets each slowcore moment of metal ring out for just long enough before they strip it down or add a surprising twist to things.  Elements that would seem cheesy elsewhere – strings, for example – are used sparingly (once, as a matter o’ fact, on “Night Draws Near”), and Ben Began’s mix never allows these pieces to take center-stage, giving the whole presentation a very organic feel, the album pulsing and growing from minute to minute.  Similar attention is given to bridges, which are so slickly worked into the compositions that there’s no sense of stop, change chords, even when the song is slowing down or speeding up to move in a different direction.

Like, Mogwai can eat it ya’ll.  The kings of moody, slow instrumentals are Ganon.