Appropriately for a band called Giant Squid, The Ichthyologist is an album of great depth (Woohoo!). This is sludgy prog-metal of the first order. The most obvious initial comparison would be Neurosis, mainly because it features the cellist and singer Jackie Perez Gratz, a contributor to works by that band and Steve Von Til’s own projects, but a full-time member here. But this is a fairly different take on this broad area of music; less apocalyptic, more freewheeling, inventive, and sometimes even creepy. The band are not afraid of multi-layered vocal harmonies, vibrato mariachi trumpets, and meanderings that exploit off-key harmonies in a manner that seems to be trying to catch the listener off guard (see the opening to Sutterville).

The sound of the album is pretty varied, as the band manages to squeeze a great deal of nuance out of an adaptable instrumental lineup. The cello is used as a core instrument, rather than a peripheral novelty, and as such dominates the sound more than I’ve heard an orchestral stringed instrument do on any other metal album (except for Apocalyptica’s output, and they just try to make the instrument sound like a guitar anyway). Interlocking male and female vocals are also a recurrent feature, both clean and melodious, reminding me of a record like In The Woods…’s Omnio. What this does mean is that the sound is moody, gentle and atmospheric, rather than heavy, for the most part. They can do loud, certainly, but it is reserved for more occasional passages in which Neurosis-esque crescendos clatter in over their eerie and sometimes even folksy melodies.

A particulalr stand-out would be Sevengill, which opens with a mournful croaking thud that could come straight from The Sun That Never Sets. But there’s a lot more here, with the instrumentation (including a flute on this track) adding a whole new character to it. When this murk is eventually overwhelmed by a cacophonous wash of electric guitar, the soaring Anneke-supplied vocal line ignites the sound and it really goes up in flames; such are the moments great albums are made of. La Brea Tar Pits has the same spirit, simultaneously intimidating and quirky, as 21st Century Schizoid Man, which is high praise indeed.

This is really good. It’s their second album, and I believe some people on the forums were plugging the first when it came out. Anyway, I missed that and am jumping on now. Highly recommended.