Keelhaul
Keelhaul's Triumphant Return To Obscurity

Guys: these guys rock. Boy, do they rock.

Let's be clear from the start: this lineup doesn't feature the usual unassailable, listless music-menhir that repeats and folds in on itself for the whole duration of the work: hefty reasoning, beastly structural-compositional variety, surgical vocal and instrumental ferocity are the basic ingredients of the return, a good six years after their predecessor, of the staff-clearing musicians in question..  

An exhausting athleticism invigorated and reinforced by subtle voluminosity in sound-structure: that's, in extreme summary, what can be found within the twelve tortuous sections, often richly instrumental, contained in this latest effort by the Cleveland quartet.

It seems that unlike much (too much) para/post-metal competition, Keelhaul have sufficiently clear ideas on how to construct remarkable, compelling, and diverse bone-crushing fragments: bacchanals never end in themselves for an album overflowing with solutions apparently executed with total lightness and anti-traumatic finesse.

In the impetuous surge of extroverted shards, I find it appropriate to mention the highly impactful para-Voivodisms placed at the beginning of the disjointed opening track, "Pass the Lampshade", passing through a whole series of unbalanced, voluminous noise rock-like aggressions (at times they seem like the Unsane, lacking the gift of synthesis and suitably packed with dynamite) and urgently similar assorted wickedness.

But I would also say: UH!