In Dreams and Time

On their third studio album, the Los Angeles prog-rock revivalists Ancestors push their sound further than ever before. “Whispers” opens In Dreams and Time with a tangle of doom-metal, prog, and space-rock that spans more than nine minutes. Sung over a droning, cathedral-style organ, the cultish four-part harmonies sound chanted by either monks or druids, setting an eerie, foreboding tone. Then two-thirds of the way in it sounds like somebody shifted the tune into overdrive; the tempos pick up at a locomotive pace and Justin Maranga howls like a young, Hawkwind-era Lemmy Kilmister. “The Last Return” takes a different approach. It starts with ghostly female vocals gently cooing over soft piano notes before walls of guitar distortion seep in and out like a sonic orchestra of the feedback gods. When the drums and bass finally come in, the song sprouts wings and soars skyward. Fans of Neurosis will find a familiarity in the thick bottom end and slow-burning slide guitar leads of “Corryvreckan.” The closing song, “First Light,” rocks like a 20-minute marriage between Hawkwind and Yes.