>Heavy metal has rarely been as dynamic, narrative, cinematic and cohesive as The Mother of Virtues (Relapse, 2014) is. Each piece is an intense, life-threatening experience. The relatively conventional grindcore of opener The Oracle Of Nassau is misleading. The nine-minute White Flag is a mini-fantasia drenched in gothic overtones, opening at a funereal doom-y pace, flavored with psychedelic spaced-out guitar tones, torn apart by a burst of distorted vocals, and, after the ritual "grinding", hypnotized in an oneiric pause before the final beastly growl. The eight-minute Eternity In A Breath is another venture into doom-metal with visceral energy; and halfway the music stops and the guitar emulates a piano with a few laconic notes; but then the booming procession-like rhythm restarts and the vocals become elongate desperate cries from hell. The balance of power between Dylan DiLella's guitar noise and Doug Moore's hoarse shout peaks in the infernally epic ten-minute bacchanal of The Mother Of Virtues, one of the genre's masterpieces. All jagged and thorny, the instrumental score of Sleeper Agent sets the stage for a split-personality show by the vocalist. Balkanized is their idea of acrobatic rock'n'roll, an orgy at high speed of odd tempos, guitar squeaks and vocal shrieks (that gets even more savage when it slows down). The scaffolding of Implant Fever creaks and shakes dangerously, with every element pushed to the limit and the vocalist shifting among different psychotic personas. Invisible Injury dumps seven more minutes of extenuating psychological violence, showing little respect for form and tradition (with a three-minute instrumental coda which is a delight of anti-mood music). The band assimilates lessons that come from as far as DNA, Slint, Captain Beefheart, and Laughing Hyenas. DiLella is a new master of atonality, worthy of the classics of the new wave and of free jazz.