Top 2008 #s 1-10

Yound Widows - Old Wounds

Download: rapidshare
From: Louisville, Kentucky. Genre: noise-rock, post-hardcore
LIYL: The Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Breather Resist, Fight Amp, AmRep bands
Website : Myspace : Label


Mouth Of The Architect - Quietly

Download: megaupload
From: Hell, Ohio. Genre: Post-Sludge
LIYL: Neurosis, Minsk, ISIS, Cult of Luna, Corrupted, Rosetta, Year of No Light, Thou
Website : Myspace : Label


Grails - Take Refuge In Clean Living

Download: megaupload
From: Portland, Oregon. Genre: experimental, psychedelic
LIYL: Priestbird, Ghost, Bardo Pond, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel, Tulsa Drone, James Blackshaw, Silver Apples
Website : Myspace : Label


Torche - Meanderthal

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From: Miami, Florida. Genre: stoner rock/metal
LIYL: Floor, Big Business, Queens of the Stone Age, Melvins, Baroness
Website : Myspace : Label


Bison BC - Quiet Earth

Download: sendspace
From: Vancouver BC. Genre: stoner-metal
LIYL: High on Fire, Baroness, Saviours, Mastodon, Motorhead, Kylesa
Website : Myspace : Label


Pocahaunted - Chains/Island Diamonds/Mirror Mics

Download CHAINS: megaupload
From: Eagle Rock, California. Genre: psych-drone, tribal drone
LIYL: Grouper, Religious Knives, Robedoor, Inca Ore, Mouthus, Double Leopards, Lichens, Sunn O)))
Website : Myspace : Label


The Drift - Memory Drawings

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From: San Francisco. Genre: dub-jazz-rock
LIYL: Tarentel, Do Make Say Think, Miles Davis, Triosk, Bluebridge Quartet, Jaga Jazzist
Website : Myspace : Label


Circle - Hollywood

Download: megaupload
From: Finland. Genre: psychedelic, krautrock, metal
LIYL: Pharaoh Overlord, Faust, Can, Neu!, Judas Priest, Acid Mothers Temple, Hawkwind, Hammers of Misfortune, Kyuss
Website : Myspace : Label


Earthless - Live at Roadburn

Download: megaupload
From: San Diego. Genre: heavy psych, instrumental/jam metal
LIYL: Hendrix, Acid Mothers Temple, Mammatus, Kyuss, Blue Cheer, Zeppelin, Ash Ra Tempel, Iota, La Ira De Dios, Ancestors, Tee Pee Records roster, Green Milk From The Planet Orange, Boris
Website : Myspace : Label


U.S. Christmas - Eat The Low Dogs

Download: megaupload
From: Marion, North Carolina. Genre: psych, space rock
LIYL: Acid Mothers Temple, Hawkwind, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Comets on Fire, Up-Tight, Danava, Crystal Castles
Website : Myspace : Label

Top 2008 #s 11-20

Ancestors - Neptune With Fire

Download: megaupload
From: Los Angeles, California. Genre: doom, sludge, post-metal, stoner
LIYL: Iota, Gonga, Mammatus, Giant Squid, Ufomammut, Capricorns, Kyuss, Boris, Earthless, Pink Floyd
Website : Myspace : Label


My Education - Bad Vibrations

Download: megaupload
From: Austin, Texas. Genre: post-rock
LIYL: The Pirate Ship Quintet, Cue, Neil on Impression, Sweek, Laura, Belle Orchestre, Yndi Halda, Japancakes
Website : Myspace : Label


Neil on Impression - L'oceano Delle Onde Che Restano Onde Per Sempre

Download: rapidshare(128k)
From: Italy. Genre: post-rock
LIYL: Laura, Samuel Jackson 5, The Jimmy Cake, My Education, Sgt, The Pirate Ship Quintet, Magyar Posse, Belle Orchestre
Website : Myspace : Label


The Samuel Jackson Five - Goodbye Melody Mountain

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From: Oslo, Norway. Genre: post-rock, instrumental
Similar/Related: Tuna Laguna, My Education, Tristeza, Do Make Say Think, We Vs Death, Jaga Jazzist, You.May.Die.In.The.Desert, The Jimmy Cake, Silencio, Tortoise
Website : Myspace : Label


Black Elk - Always A Six Never A Nine

Download: megaupload
From: Portland, OR. Genre: noise-rock/metal
Similar/Related: Jesus Lizard, Hammerhead, Racebannon, Pissed Jeans, Shellac, Melvins, Todd, Akimbo, Young Widows, Oxbow, Fight Amp
Website : Myspace : Label


Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

Download: N/A
From: Australia. Genre: rock
LIYL: Grinderman, Birthday Party, Dirty Three, Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, The Stooges
Website : Myspace : Label


Krallice - Krallice

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From: New York. Genre: epic black metal
LIYL: Weakling, Wolves In The Throne Room, Cobalt, Ocrilim, Indricothere, Ghast
Website : Myspace : Label


Daturah - Reverie

Download: megaupload
From: Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Genre: post-rock, post-metal
LIYL: Caspian, Omega Massif, Jakob, Belegost, Mono, Isis, Explosions In The Sky
Website : Myspace : Label


Black Mountain - In The Future

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From: Vancouver, Canada. Genre: psychedelic rock, classic rock, stoner, indie
LIYL: Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Witchcraft, Black Angels, Dungen
Website : Myspace : Label


Man Man - Rabbit Habits

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From: Philadelphia. Genre: ????
LIYL: Captain Beefheart, Zappa, Old Time Relijun, Tom Waits, Primus, O'Death
Website : Myspace : Label

Top 2008 #s 21-30

Dungen - 4

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From: Vastergotland, Sweden. Genre: psych-rock, classic rock, pop, folk, soul
Similar/Related: Caribou, Witchcraft, The Doors, 13th FLoor Elevators, Pink Floyd, Comets on Fire, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Led Zeppelin, Amon Duul II, Curtis Mayfield, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Yes, Beatles, Beach Boys, Deep Purple, Beyond the Wizards Sleeve, Porcupine Tree, etc..
Website : Myspace : Label


Jacaszek - Treny

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From: Gdansk, Poland. Genre: minimal classical, ambient electronica
LIYL: Slow Six, Anoice, Avro Part, Deaf Center, Bohren Und Der Club of Gore, World’s End Girlfriend, Max Richter, Burial, Boards of Canada
Website : Myspace : Label


LITE - Phantasia

Download: mediafire
From: Tokyo, Japan. Genre: instrumental rock, math rock
LIYL: Te, Mudy on the Sakuban, Toe, Turing Machine, Maserati, Rosalina Mar, Battles
Website : Myspace : Label


The Evpatoria Report - Maar

Download: megaupload
From: Switzerland. Genre: post-rock
LIYL: GYBE!, Pink Floyd, My Education, Pirate Ship Quintet, Ascent of Everest, Sparrows Swarm and Sing, Mono
Website : Myspace : Label


Gonga - II: Transmigration

Download: megaupload
From: Bristol, UK. Genre: psychedelic stoner/doom
LIYL: Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Suma, Kinksi, Capricorns, Monkey3, Queens of the Stone Age, Hidden Hand, OM, Sleep, Viaje A 800, Ufomammut, Earthless
Website : Myspace : Label



sgt. - Stylus Fantasticus

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From: Tokyo, Japan. Genre: post-rock/experimental
Similar/Related: Sweek, Laura, Cue, Lite, Magyar Posse, Bondage Fruit, Te, World's End Girlfriend, Yndi Halda
Website : Myspace : Label



Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull

Download: sharebee
From: Seattle, Washington. Genre: western-blues-drone
LIYL: Ennio Morricone, Human Bell, OM, SunnO)), Brightback Morning Light, Bill Frisell, Pink Floyd
Website : Myspace : Label


Boris - Smile: Live at Wolf Creek

Download: megaupload
From: Japan. Genre: experimental rock/sludge/noise
LIYL: Boris, Acid Mothers Temple, Orthodox, Guitar Wolf, Goatsnake, more Boris
Website : Myspace : Label


Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday

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From: Portland, Oregon. Genre: experimental, psychedelic
LIYL: Priestbird, Ghost, Bardo Pond, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel
Website : Myspace : Label


You.May.Die.In.The.Desert & Gifts From Enola - Harmonic Motion: Volume 1

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Genre: post-rock. From: Seattle, WA, & Harrisonburg/Charlottesville, VA
LIYL: Caspian, Samuel Jackson 5, Jakob, , Pirate Ship Quintet, Shelter Red
YMDITD Myspace : GFE Myspace : Label

Top 2008 #s 31-40

Fire on Fire - The Orchard

Download: mediafire
From: Portland, Maine. Genre: folk, bluegrass, gospel, psych
Similar/Related: Cerberus Shoal, Akron/Family, Bonnie Prince Billy, Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes, Beirut, Eden Express, Grizzly Bear, Carter Family, Comus, Nick Drake, Pygmy Lush, Brightblack Morning Light, Phoebe Killdeer, Lau Nau, Devendra Banhart, The Decemberists
Website : Myspace : Label


Muga - There Is Nothing Eternal Exists

Download: megaupload
From: Japan. Genre: stoner-metal, sludge
Similar/Related: Bison BC, High on Fire, Saviours, Baroness, Torche, Buffalo, Mastodon
Website : Myspace(none) : Label


Conifer - Crown Fire

Download: mediafire
From: Portland, Maine. Genre: Instrumental Sludge, Post-rock, Doom, Psychedelic, Experimental
Similar/Related: Capricorns, Oxbow, Year Of No Light, Mouth of the Architect, Harvey Milk, Isis, Rosetta, Tusk, Minsk
Website : Myspace : Label


Carpicorns - River, Bear Your Bones

Download: megaupload
From: London, UK. Genre: post-metal, doom, instrumental sludge
LIYL: Baroness, Bossk, Del Ray, Monkey3, Suma, Omega Massif, Electric Wizard, Pelican, Kyuss, Iron Monkey
Website : Myspace : Label


O'Death - Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin

Download: megaupload
From: New York. Genre: speed-bluegrass, hillbilly-punk
LIYL: Tom Waits, Man Man, Old Time Relijun, Left Lane Cruiser, Captain Beefheart
Website : Myspace : Label


Beyond The Wizards Sleeve - ARK.1

Download: megaupload
From: United Kingdom. Genre: Electronic, Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock, etc.
LIYL: Neu!, Dungen, Caribou, Cream, Comus, Erkin Koray, compilations of obscure psychedelic rock
Website : Myspace : Label


Akimbo - Jersey Shores

Download: sharebee
From: Seattle, Washington. Genre: noise-rock, stoner-metal, sludge
Similar/Related: Helms Alee, Young Widows, Jesus Lizard, Melvins, Clouds, Shellac, Fight Amp, AmRep bands, Black Elk, Harvey Milk
Website : Myspace : Label



Mudy on The Sakuban - VOI

Download: megaupload
From: Japan. Genre: instrumental rock
LIYL: Te, Muddy World, Toe, Lite, Rosalina Mar, Pele
Website : Myspace : Label


Helms Alee - Night Terror

Download: megaupload
From: Seattle, Washington. Genre: metal, hardcore, noise-rock
LIYL: Kylesa, Taint, Made Out Of Babies, Zozobra, Harkonen, Jucifer, Baroness, Melvins
Website : Myspace : Label



Harvey Milk - Life, The Best Game In Town

Download: megaupload
From: Portland, Oregon. Genre: sludge
LIYL: Melvins, Thrones, Boris, Goatsnake, Cable, Sabbath, Sleep, Bongripper, Sunn
Website : Myspace : Label

Top 2008 #s 41-50

Grayceon - This Grand Show

Download: megaupload
From: San Francisco. Genre: proggy post-rock/metal
LIYL: Amber Asylum, Giant Squid, Silver Mt Zion, Audrey, Swans, Neurosis, Tarantula AD
Website : Myspace : Label


Bongripper - Hate Ashbury

Download: mediafire
From: Chicago. Genre: psychedelic doom, drone
LIYL: Suma, Electric Wizard, Capricorns, Boris, SunnO)), Esoteric, Harvey Milk
Website : Myspace : Label


Zimmers Hole - When You Were Shouting At The Devil... We Were In League With Satan

Download: megaupload
From: Vancouver, BC . Genre: Heavy Fucking Metal
LIYL: Strapping Young Lad, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Death, Dethklok
Website : Myspace : Label


Rhys Chatham & His Guitar Trio All-Stars - Guitar Trio Is My Life!

Download: megaupload (Disc 1)
From: Paris, France. Genre: experimental rock, "minimalist-punk"
LIYL: Glenn Branca, John Cale, Tony Conrad, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Website : Myspace : Label


El Paramo - El Paramo

Download: megaupload
From: Madrid, Spain. Genre: psychedelic, instrumental stoner-rock
LIYL: Colour Haze, Los Natas, La Ira De Dios, Kinski, Kyuss, Gonga, Pelican, Ancestors, Monkey3
Website : Myspace : Label


Human Bell - Human Bell

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From: Baltimore. Genre: instrumental blues/folk/post-rock
LIYL: Earth, Brightback Morning Light, 5ive, Balmorhea, Across Tundras, Ennio Morricone
Website : Myspace : Label


A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons

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From: . Genre:
LIYL: GY!BE, Set Fire to Flames, Ascent of Everest, Sparrows Swarm & Sing
Website : Myspace : Label


Té - Soul and Senses Aligned Create the Greatest Music

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From: Japan. Genre: instrumental-rock
LIYL: Lite, Mudy On The Sakuban, Toe, Muddy World, Caspian, Maserati
Website : Myspace : Label


A. Armada - Anam Cara EP

Download: megaupload
From: Athens, Georgia. Genre: post-rock
LIYL: If These Trees Could Talk, Caspian, Lite, Pg. Lost, Gifts From Enola, Explosions in the Sky, Mooncake, Maserati, Jakob
Website : Myspace : Label


Wooden Shjips - Volume 1

Download: megaupload
From: San Francisco. Genre: krautrock, psychedelic, noise
LIYL: Faust, Can, Cloudland Canyon, Racoo-oo-oon, Magic Lantern, Pharoah Overlord, Circle, Aluk Todolo, Spacemen 3, Crystal Castles, Comets on Fire
Website : Myspace : Label

Mono - Ashes In The Snow

Absolutely incredible! What a great way to start 2009. This will be a great year for music. Top 50 of 2008 coming soon.
Download: mono-jpn.com or Rapidshare
Website : Myspace

Caspian - Sycamore (demo)

New track from a Radar Recordings sampler.
Like everything they've done, it's fantastic!
Download: mediafire
Website : Myspace

The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage

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Label/Date: Chemikal Underground Records, January 2009
Genre: rock, indie, krautrock, post-rock, folk, pop, experimental, country
From: Glasgow, Scotland
Similar: Gutter Twins, Nick Cave, Black Heart Procession, Alabama 3, Neu!, Magyar Posse, The Jimmy Cake, Twilight Singers, Tom Waits, Decemberists, Can, Morphine, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Murder By Death, Johnny Cash, Josef K, DMST, Crippled Black Pheonix, New Model Army, Tom Fun Orhcestra, QotSA, Black Mountain, Low, A Silver Mt. Zion, Beefheart, Elliott Brood, Porcupine Tree, Calexico, Flaming Lips
Website : Myspace

"Over-population, dwindling natural resources and the yawning void within every one of us caused by society's unnatural social contracts and mass sexual repression means one thing: its checkmate for the human animal."

"So say The Phantom Band, with an invisible tongue firmly in an invisible cheek and if the sibylline verdict delivered by this mysterious Pan-Scottish sextet leans towards the dark side, then at least they’ve had the good grace to supply us with a fitting soundtrack for our spiral into the void. All universal matter can converge in a black hole - Checkmate Savage is where Beefheart meets Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, where Neu! meets Nick Cave, and we reckon it's a very early contender for album of the year."

Nisennenmondai - Neji/Tori

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Download: megaupload
Label/Date: Bijin record, 2008
Genre: noise-rock, experimental, all-female instrumental trio
From: Tokyo, Japan
Similar/Related: Psychic Paramount, Lightning Bolt, High Rise, Hey Colossus, Warhammer 48k, Cave, Grey Daturas, Neu!, Sonic Youth, Boredoms, This Heat, Afrirampo, Acid Mothers, Guitar Wolf, Noxagt
Website : Myspace

"With this album, comprising two earlier EPs, Japan’s Nisennenmondai take their gloriously groove-centered noise jams to the international stage. This all-female instrumental trio has garnered plenty of attention in their native land and has recently been lauded by members of groups like Battles and No Age, who on tour had discovered their fearsome live shows. Although they come saddled with a wealth of influences, partly due to their habit of naming songs after influential experimental-rock outfits, they still manage to own it uniquely, deftly careering from krautrock lock-grooves to industrial clang to nihilistic overdrive.

Like ESG, the other all-female rhythm juggernaut, the main muscle behind Nisennenmondai is the drummer: Sayaka Himeno’s standout playing is the group’s indispensible motor. It’s a mighty sound, and it’s sometimes difficult to fathom that it is emanating from three adorable Japanese girls just out of college. The group’s loosely improvised playing style is such a deliciously dissonant freewheeling caterwaul that it’s surprising to find out, for example, that the jarring steel-cage fight of opener "Pop Group" wasn’t recorded by an impromptu studio horde, Red Krayola-style. The track is also a compelling example for the benefits of lo-fi recording: The oversaturated sonics only make the metal-machine stomp sound that much more unhinged and out there.

The follower, "This Heat," is dominated by lower-gear but even more relentless, blood-stirring wonky rhythms. The jagged, unpredictable drumming and guitar/bass interplay produces a whirling whiplash that after long enough begins to make you feel like you’ve been staring too long into the sun. "Sonic Youth" indeed bears an unmistakable kinship with the titular group’s early releases, like their own self-titled debut EP or the epic tour collage "Sonic Death." But instead of steering and swerving away from the angular rumble in true no-wave fashion, the girls mind-meld into the kind of clamorous thunder that fans of Liars and the Boredoms are certainly familiar with.

The album highlight is "Ikkkyokume," a psychedelic burner presented here in two different takes: a whirling torrent of cymbal crashes and guitars that makes it sound like the girls are riding out the currents at the deepest end of the "Diamond Sea." Such force and free-jazz intensity produces a momentum that feels simultaneously propulsive and extremely static. It’s a trance-rock maelstrom that’s Not Safe for Work because there’s a fair risk you’ll end up in a glazed-eye stare while coworkers wave their fingers to check for signs of life.

The record’s back end sees more of a return to more traditional no-wave maneuvers, all straitjacketed skeletal beats and razorlike guitar work that befits any student of noise-rock luminaries like Lydia Lunch, DNA, Mars, or James Chance: Seems like the New York late '70s no-wave scene is these days not only ripe for scholarly book treatment but fit to be an object of the powerful mimetic impulse that Japanese culture is so renowned for."

Fire on Fire - The Orchard

Download: mediafire
Label/Date: Young God Records, 2008
Genre: folk, bluegrass, gospel, psych
From: Portland, Maine
Similar/Related: Cerberus Shoal, Akron/Family, Bonnie Prince Billy, Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes, Beirut, Eden Express, Grizzly Bear, Carter Family, Comus, Nick Drake, Pygmy Lush, Brightblack Morning Light, Phoebe Killdeer, Lau Nau, Iron & Wine, Neil Young, Yma Sumac, Fairport Convention, Amon Dull II
Website : Myspace

"Fire On Fire used to be the art-punk-prog-chaos collective Cerberus Shoal, but they ditched their electric instruments, went into hiding for a while, and now play all acoustic--stand up bass, mandolin, banjo, harmonium, accordion, acoustic guitar, dobro etc etc, and they all sing and harmonize on the songs. Live, they do it "old school" and just use two mics placed in front of them on the stage, like a bluegrass band. They all live in the same house up in Maine, across from rusting green oil tanks, apparently. To me they sound like a backwoods, fierce, psychedelic Mamas And The Papas or a crazed and joyously vengeful gospel string band." - Michael Gira/Young God Records 2008

The Mirimar Disaster - Volumes EP

Download: sendspace
Label/Date: Undergroove records, 2008
Genre: progressive hardcore, post-metal
From: Sheffield, United Kingdom
Similar/Related: Burst, Taint, Gospel, Wetnurse, Eleventh He Reaches London, Converge, Isis, Helms Alee, Kylesa, Zozobra, Dilinger Escape Plan, Botch, Buried Inside, Circle Takes the Square, Burnt by the Sun, Black Ships
Website : Myspace

"From the off, with 'Alms For Strangers', 'Volumes' is a barbed-wired cluster fuck of pounding drums and twisted riffs, which continues into the colossal 'Control. Alter Delete'. 'Volumes' also features a vocal guest appearance from Maria Christopher (of Massachusetts' 27) in 'The Town Of Empty Sound' - showing a bleak and experimental nature of the band. The title track is a vitriolic groove-fest, while closer 'Sing Hera' brings 'Volumes' to a logical conclusion that leaves you wondering what's just hit your ears!"

Wetnurse - Invisible City

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Label/Date: Seventh Rule Records
Genre: fierce, progressive hardcore/metal/punk/grindcore
From: New York
Similar/Related: Burst, Dilinger Escape Plan, Botch, Mirimar Disaster, Converge, Today Is the Day, Akimbo, Helms Alee, Gospel, Kylesa, Zozobra, Unsane, Keelhaul, Buried Inside, Circle Takes the Square, Burnt by the Sun, Black Ships, Fuck The Facts
Website : Myspace

"If your record encompasses as many different forms of extreme music as Wetnurse’s second disc, Invisible City, chances are it’s bound to sound jerry-rigged with piano wire and scotch tape. So how did Wetnurse avoid sounding like a third-rate Mr. Bungle? By attacking each facet of its genre-blind aesthetic with the same groove-heavy, ten-ton beatdown. These NYC boys find the common ground between Today Is the Day’s skronk-metal, Unsane’s drill press riffs, the arty hardcore of Converge and thirty years of psychedelic rock, erect a barbed wire fence around it, and thrash all over the place 'til it all becomes one pulpy meta-genre. There’s blood, dirt and spiritual transcendence aplenty to be found in the Invisible City.

It takes gumption to imagine At the Drive-In as a death-metal band, like Wetnurse does in "Not Your Choice," and a whole lot of ingenuity to make the song flow so well from harmony to discord, alt-rock to filthy hardcore. Flow and urgency are at the heart of Invisible City. Even as songs stretch out long past single length, every riff propels the record forward. Wetnurse’s experiments aren’t always successful -- Stephanie Gravelle’s guest vocals on "Missing Lion Returns" are a bit placid for the metallic raga swirling around her -- but they’re always purposeful, and usually underpinned with a killer swing.

Let’s not forget that Wetnurse is a damn fine metal band, capable of battering ears with the best of them; take the savagely direct "Your Last Flower," a compact shitkicker that finds vocalist Gene Fowler deploying every one of his multiple personalities, from Chihuahua yelp to guttural death growl.

Aggression isn’t the only tool in Wetnurse’s shed, though, and Invisible City is stronger for it. After the band breathes fire through the first half of "Slow Your Spell, Miss Hell," a grungy, major key vamp turns eyes heavenward, a ragged guitar solo rains down cosmic dust, Curran Reynolds’s rumbling toms pat out the flames, and you can almost see the stars poking through. It’s pretty beautiful. And after such a frenetic 50 minutes, the calming acoustic guitar that closes Invisible City seems like a kindly peace offering to send us on our way."