Cycles of Light

St. Louis, Missouri's Everything Went Black (yes, they're named after the Black Flag compilation album) exist in a dimension-straddling reality set betwixt the calculating complexities of late-2000s progressive hardcore and the reckless mayhem of early-2010's crust-core. Their debut album, 2011's Cycles of Light, relishes the dynamic possibilities of burying generous melodic layers and mesmerizing chords under an ever-present film of distortion; and though their songs seemingly expire before they've hardly breathed their first (two-minute durations are the norm here), the mostly contiguous flow from track to track likewise emulates those expansive post-rock templates, as though this 29-minute statement was but one convoluted song. But of course these can also be picked apart so as to stand up on their own: even when a standout like "Parade" progresses from typical crust-core beginnings, through deliberate post-metal, to a classical strings finale (sadly, the equally schizophrenic "Kingdoms" feels much more forced later on). Other memorable moments include the exquisite "here comes the pain" intro "XI" and perverse Karma to Burn-like queerness of "Halo of Vultures"; forgettable ones being the rare, one-dimensional crust-core blinders, "Lifeless" and "Thorn Feeders." In sum, there's some good and some bad, both amidst the crust and the prog here, making this an above average kickoff for Everything Went Black, yet with much for them to improve upon.