Sunday Soundcheck: Set 045

Beginning in the late 1990s as something of a Neurosis-derived post-metal/hardcore band, they made their breakthrough in 2000 with Celestial, a crushingly beautiful monolithic wall of sound that came to define a genre for the next decade. Thereafter, their sound can be split into three distinct evolutions; the blindingly heavy and doom-laden first phase which comes to a cacophonous close with SGNL>05, the hypnotic post-metal signature-sound that dominates their next two releases, and the increasingly melodic and halcyon aesthetic of their last two albums, which also feature a modicum of clean vocal use.

All of it is essential listening; personally, Panopticon is their highlight but that is a rather arbitrary choice made on the basis that it's the first album of theirs that I heard, and it's also the one that I've listened to most in the years since. The blend of sludge and hauntingly melodic instrumental passages takes the listener on quite the journey throughout the hour run-time.