LATERALUS

I am so impressed by this band. I went out and picked this up about three weeks ago after reading all the great reviews and I was not the least bit disappointed. The music is dark and murky and as intense as anything put out in prog. They have an uncanny knack of meshing or weaving the bass and guitar into a sound that is almost one. The bass player uses more treble in his sound and less of a bottom end while the guitarist has a greater bottom end sound making for some really compelling arrangements The vocalist is incredible with stuff like "The Grudge" and "Ticks and Leaches" It is incredible when he sings "is this what you wanted" it is almost as if he is at one with the band and they are just slamming you with every ounce of musical energy any band could muster. Really punishing and intense as some weapon of mass destruction in musical terms. The drummer is extraordinarily technical and he plays a lot of "off timing beats" with a ferocity that is unmatched by most today. I have been unable to take Lateralus out of my cd player. I even brought it to work with me but it was too intense to play there as it keeps me from being able to focus on my work. It is that powerful. I just bought Aenima but I am waiting until I wear out Lateralus before I attempt to listen to it. Five Stars as this is an essential in my book. If it takes five years between albums then so be it as there is almost 80 minutes of music on this album which in my mind makes for two releases.