Floor – Oblation

1.
2. Rocinante
3. Trick Scene
4. Find Away
5. The Key
6. New Man
7. Sister Sophia
8. The Quill
9. Love Comes Crushing
10. War Party
11. Homegoings And Transitions
12. Sign Of Aeth
13. Raised To A Star
14. Forever Still
“It’s been just over four years since Miami trio played a one-off reunion show that warned, “One show. One chance. Don’t blow it”, and it’s been a decade since the band’s sophomore outing, “Dove”, was released in 2004. Since that time, the band has spawned a family tree rivaled by few, members of the lineup throughout their 12-year initial run going on to play in acts like Torche, Dove, House of Lightning, MonstrO, Holly Hunt and Cavity (the latter of whom ran concurrent to and who seem like fodder for a reunion of their own), among others. The biggest impact in terms of audience has unquestionably been by Torche, who, led by guitarist/vocalist Steve Brooks, inherited much of their pop-meets-bomb-drop-sludge-riffing ethic directly from Brooks’ work in , continuing to refine those methods and ultimately creating something new from them. Both bands now active, release their first album since “Dove” and first new material since their reunion ‘ 2009’s 8CD discography box set “Below And Beyond” notwithstanding ‘ in the form of “” on Season of Mist. Its title refers to “an offering”, and that may well be what have in mind, but while the core focus on tone and pop melody remains intact, there have been some very distinct changes in the approach of ‘ the trio of Steve Brooks, guitarist Anthony Vialon and drummer Henry Wilson ‘ since they issued their landmark 2002 “Self Titled” debut and they show up audibly in the listening experience of “”.”
“That’s to be expected, right? It has been a decade. To expect to get back together and release Pt. 2 seems unreasonable and unfair. As righteous as that album is, for Brooks, Vialon and Wilson to have come in with the intent of recapturing that magic ‘ and it is the self-titled lineup that’s reunited ‘ would be shooting themselves in the foot before they started. No. “” is a collection of songs poised not to surrogate the hooks of old, but to serve as a beginning for this new stage of the band. In short, have grown up. “” is not the work of a three-piece experimenting with their sound and happening into brilliance. There is poise, confidence, and awareness at its root, and whether it’s the ultra-thick underlying chugging of the spacious opening title-track or the ensuing upbeat rush of “Rocinante” ‘ one of ‘s sonic gifts was to not only have tones so thick, but to make them move, and that remains the case here ‘ or the standalone megastomp of “Love Comes Crushing”, the band offer crisp, assured songcraft and a defining clarity of intent. While the songs remain exciting well beyond the simple novelty of their existence, a new album seeming like an impossibility for years, that clarity necessarily comes in trade for the spontaneous sensibility of their earlier work. That’s the nature of creative progression ‘ once you know what you’re doing, your approach to it changes. The middle section of “” that runs from “New Man”, through “Sister Sophia”, “The Quill” and the aforementioned “Love Comes Crushing” before getting to the catchy “War Party” still works as a fitting summary for ‘s aesthetic ‘ thick, at times lush, alternately crawling, running, but always moving, etc. ‘ but it does so more in triumph at its level of execution than in raw punkish urgency.”
“Couple that with the fact that “” is a full 10 minutes longer than either “” (32 min.) or “Dove” (34 min.), and it becomes clear that a more attentive mindset is needed on the part of the listener, and that as enjoyable as it is to be carried along the tide of riffs through side A cuts like “Trick Scene” and “Find Away” ‘ both reinforcing Wilson’s mastery of half-t