Mose Giganticus

The tendency will be to lump Mose Giganticus into the obvious cache of progressive metal outfits with their third opus, Gift Horse. Yes, the album cover bears a striking resemblance to Mastodon's Remission, but one need not pay acute attention to realize that's where all comparisons end. Thanks to a very specific application of rolling, detuned riffs surely inspired by the plodding drive of stoner metal, yet motivated enough to swirl and incite rather than render comatose, there's a motivating pace and fervour to the affair. Add in that all the vocals are delivered in a choral capacity, thereby accentuating the overall impact, and the album is clearly in a class all its own. Still not finished, elements of almost tech metal sterility and synthesizers are fused with airy darkness (most notably on epic "Days Of Yore") to hammer home the point that while, yes, Gift Horse is grandiose, tempo-conscious metal, it is also in a class by itself.