Some music lives or dies on the quality of the recording. _Consume_ could have been muddy and indistinct, and would probably have turned no heads. Luckily for us, the sound on this album is positively monstrous. The clarity of the mix ensures that every instrument makes an impact. Drum sounds, in their time, are as interesting as the guitars' thunderous chugging or searing solos. Daniel Davis's vocals carve their own blood-beckoning wounds, sounding like a cross between a froth-jowled Rottweiler and Tyrannosaurus caught in a bear trap.

Even the epic-length closer "Sleep" -- which is not this band's stab at a doom track, no matter how much you think descriptor "epic-length closer" and title "Sleep" should signify such -- churns with unrelenting force and refuses to feel as long as it is. Songs definitely rise with individual power -- "Drink", "Katheter", "Time to Think", the instrumental "Melody" -- but there are so many strengths that pointing them out becomes too large a task all too quickly. Rather, point to the whole album. Then click. Or grab and head to the counter. One way or another, check this out. You'll be too busy banging your head and pulling a power-grimace to be sorry about it.