So let's say you're a fan of old school avant-roots stuff like Dirty Three and the Black Heart Procession. And folk metal. And, I dunno, Ignaurus-era Into Another. And the whole screamo thing. And (mostly) French vocals.

Cancel the Apocalypse Terminus Stairway (self-released)

Whew! Cancel the Apocalypse is one of the most ambitious and pretentious bands I've come across in years. Don't believe the second part? Just read the bio on the Bandcamp page. These folks mean business.

The musical ideas and lyric languages shift and grind almost randomly, even as the songs themselves flow almost seamlessly toward an inevitable conclusion. The level of polish on this is almost as thick as the band's need to break down every convention in its path.

I'd say that dichotomies abound, except that Cancel the Apocalypse often finds three or more ideas that are all diametrically opposed. An impossibility in math, perhaps, but it makes perfect sense in music. This is the rare "artiste" album that actually lives up to the astonishing pretension. These songs cast an unbreakable spell. Silence is the only release.

Jon Worley