Moderate Rock

Degraey’s last album was fine– the Barcelona quartet navigating their mostly-instrumental post-metal with a steady if unspectacular hand- but ‘Reveries’ is something else. The track lengths (almost 60 minutes divided almost equally into six tracks) and dynamics (slow-build big-bang) might suggest continued reliance on a formula but the band are working off their own blueprints now. ‘Nurture’ is packed with uniquely-timed peaks and troughs, and ‘Sprawling Nest’ is full of ominous tension, but there are ear-catching elements everywhere, including at least one striking moment of real invention in each epic cut. Sure, fans of the genre will still find some of this familiar but the closest touchstones are pioneers like Isis and The Ocean, rather than any number of the copycats that came after them. There is more room for Degraey to improve but their course is now decidedly set for greater things.