Transmuting

This Brooklyn five-piece features elements of shoegaze, emo, psychedelia, postpunk, and even Britpop. Because the band never relies too heavily on any one aspect—besides the rule of keeping up the energy—its debut album, Transmuting, is a fascinating document from start to end. “Roll the Dice” wastes no time getting started, with singer Jess Paps howling along with the music from the first few seconds, as if in a desperate race to get the first track out of the way. “Drone” paces itself ever so slightly, with pounding drums, multiple guitars establishing a wall of sound, and Paps sounding like the Jefferson Airplane’s young Grace Slick leading a modern psychedelic rock band. Elements of Sleater-Kinney, Live Skull, Wire, and X-Ray Spex (“Fight”) can be heard in Heaven's Gate's approach, with the band even channeling a mix of ‘80s Cure and X for “Clean” and the gorgeous “I’m Forgetting” and “Iron Black.” The band's previous EP, High Riser, featured many of these same attributes but with a stripped-down sound more raw than all-encompassing, as on this glorious, fully executed debut album.