Kylesa Review

Kylesa

Spiral Shadow

Still reeling from the wake of their runaway psych trip “Static tensions” Kylesa have decided to bring up the rearguard and deliver a final crushing blow…and what a weaving serpentine offering it is.

It may seem strange to find Kylesa releasing another album so soon after the richly deserved accolades of last year, yet here they are. No really, here they are! They’ve experienced another paradigm shift. Not content with their murky sludgecore pre-Static Tensions, they branched out to dip you into the hallucinogenic swamp of the aforementioned epic. Hell, even the Baizley artwork was enough to bring the genie out of the bottle, but they’re here because they’ve turned on their own screw again.

This album is far greater than the sum of its parts, melding sun and snakes and sniper-like acoustics. The dual percussive attack has been produced to the nth degree; the midrange separation of vocals and guitars has finally allowed the two to escape each other, revealing an impassioned soul that’s been lurking below all this time.

Here there are no haircuts, no hype, no hubris and no ego.

Here the snake doesn’t have to be charmed out because what’s on offer is so succinct, so striking, you’ll be hoping the follow-up to this comes just as quickly.