SAROS

This one took many, many listens to wrap my head around and it still never clicked, not because the mix of progressive black/death metal, neoclassical, and folk wasn't intriguing from a compositional standpoint. Rather, its 53 minutes only occasionally approached anything that I'd call gripping. It's a heady trip and not easy to absorb. The bitch of it is that "Acrid Plains" demonstrates that the musicians of the Bay Area's SAROS are ambitious composers and great players, yet no matter how many times I tried to locate the central core, I was left nonplussed and generally uninterested, even with the occasional moment of grandeur. All the arrangement detours and avant-garde flourishes in the world won't save an album if it never really resonates with the listener.

Featuring members of AMBER ASYLUM (including vocalist Leila Rauf),BASTARD NOISE and WEAKLING, and with a production from the renowned Billy Anderson, the pedigree is notable. Several of the songs boast a strong DEATH influence, as well as "Black Water Park"-period OPETH (check out "Devouring Conscience" and the 12-minute "The Sky will end Soon", the latter an exception in that it is in fact a strong song). It is not a question of any of these being bad songs, yet the moods created are not convincing enough to replace arrangements that rarely climax and periodically leave one with the feeling of having taken a trip that never really went anywhere. The light acoustics, keyboard bits, and string instrumentation, as well as the soft 'n' dreamy vocal parts from Rauf (e.g. "As the Tyrant Falls III", "Coriolis", and "As the Tyrant Falls III [Reprise]") seem ambitious on the surface but do more to douse the flame and kill momentum than heighten the experience or make for powerful contrast.

I've no reason to bash "Acrid Plains" because it is not a terrible album by any stretch and songs like "The Sky will End Soon" are quite moving. The ideas generated are usually promising ones. Yet those same ideas rarely bloom. This is no doubt one of those albums that will get high praise in critical circles, regardless of whether the assessments are truly honest. Overall though, I'm just not feeling it.