Feedback scree, halting tempos, mortar-burst chords, flesh-scalding shrieks... nothing's here that Khanate hasn't inundated us with, not to mention that band's related side projects and sonic progeny. Having now released three half-hour, two-song doomsplosions since 2008, undoubtedly some listeners are ready for a new approach. Trees refuse it. Given their track record, though -- as well as their inclusion of Atriarch vocalist Lenny Smith -- Trees' sound should surprise and offend no one.

Doom metal is a splintered genre. Some bands slog through drug-addled molasses. Others climb toward high emotional vistas. Still others just enjoy their boogie a little slower and lower than the rest. Trees are none of these. If you experience the passage of time as ungentle agony, then Trees are for you.