Aarktica

Jon DeRosa's early '00s approach to minimalist drone was appropriately icy, given the name of his decade spanning project. "I Am (The Ice)" and "LYMZ," the two tracks that introduce this sixth full-length, return to this core glacial drift with undertones of pipe organ dressed with glittering pinpoints of guitar. On Matchless Years (his 2007 release on Darla), DeRosa had turned towards songs and a familiar early '90s fuzz/reverb sound that swamped mid-'00s rock. Here, the songs, like "Hollow Earth Theory," with its simple loops and repeated lyrics, stay within a bubble of austerity. The album succeeds in doing quite a bit with its restricted approach, moving from portentous darkness ("A Plague of Frost") to bravura reminiscent of Explosions in the Sky ("Young Light"). Doom clutches the last rays of the album with "Corpse Reviver No. 2," a track that would please Erik Skodvin, and there's even a bone-dry cover of Danzig's "Am I Demon?"