Time in Place

There’s plenty to like about Artifex Pereo’s third album, but perhaps the best is its refusal to stick to any one musical genre. Time in Place justifies the early hopes that many Christian pop/rock fans pinned on this Louisville-bred sextet. The band seethe with emo-rock angst, snarl with hardcore rage, and soar with prog-rock ambition, often simultaneously. Artifex Pereo achieve this difficult combination with admirable skill, thanks in large part to Jamie Davis’ sweetly anguished vocals and the group's overall prowess. “No Stranger to Worry,” “Annica,” and “The Golden Age” are sustained by buoyant melodies and insistent rhythms. Especially ferocious are “Hands of Penance” (a blazing rocker with screamo touches) and “Laugh & the World Laughs with You” (driven by Duran Duran–esque funky riffage). The jazz-tinged attack of “The Straight & the Winding Way” and the atmospheric expanse of “Overview” are further examples of the album’s musical reach. A spiritual melancholy runs through the album’s lyrics, reaching epochal proportions in “Liable for Tragedy” and “Tied to the Sunset.”