Anodyne

Escape Artist refugees Anodyne (along with the dear departed LickGoldenSky) have found solace on Level Plane and released a record that should salve all the wounds of those disappointed by Mastodon’s current bid for Headbanger’s Ball acceptance. As oppressive, foreboding and dark (atmospherically) as its title implies, Lifetime of Gray Skies is also an unyielding conflagration of complex, intricate metallic runs, slow leviathan riffs over free-form metallic jazz drumming, dizzying stop-start complexity (in the Keelhaul, not Dillinger, style), the occasional thrash/grind run, distorted, tortured screams and abrasion, abrasion, abrasion. Unquestionably drummer Joel Stallings drives Anodyne’s assault with a non-stop attack, constant rolls and limbs that never idle, propelling the group beyond their Am-Rep-inspired beginning (a journey embarked upon on their last musical rampage, The Outer Dark). Fans of complex, aggressive, but never self-indulgent, aggression in the vein of the aforementioned Keelhaul, Mastodon, Kiss It Goodbye, Deadguy and the like will rejoice in Anodyne’s suffering.