Tera Melos

On 2010 masterpiece Patagonian Rats, the audio science shamans of Tera Melos threw down the gauntlet on what three humans armed with only traditional rock band instrumentation could achieve via the equal application of prodigious technical know-how and boundless creativity. With X'ed Out, the experimental rock trio set a new challenge for themselves: to create minimalist music as filtered through the innovative perspective of their ultra-complex, busier-than-bees-tweaking-on-amphetamines skill set. The result is a stunning balancing act between ingenuity and accessibility. For the attentive listener, there's an incredible degree of nuance laced throughout these 12 tracks — only via repeat visitations will the key-shifting lurch of numbers like "Bite" and the joyous genre-blending and mind-bending timing of "Until Lufthsansa" reveal their labyrinthine secrets. At the same time, responsibly shouldering the duty of giving the uninitiated a window into their psychedelic funhouse of sound, the music of Tera Melos has never been easier to absorb on a surface level. The melodies are pristine, the hooks are razor-sharp and many of the rhythms even afford the opportunity for a few bars of consistent head bobbing before fracturing into intricate tangents. It may appear as if the grand wizards of experimental rock are playing it a little safer, but from the dissonant grind of "Slimed" to the delicate atmospheric burbling of the primarily acoustic title track, X'ed Out is Tera Melos's most diverse offering to date.