Serpents

It's perhaps no surprise that a veteran from Mouth of the Architect would shift gears from serenely loud ambience to more straightforward hooks and riffs in a new incarnation — why change bands if you're not going to try something different, after all? Thus Struck by Lightning, formed by the previous band's singer/keyboardist Gregory Lahm, if anything looks back to the pool of aggressive, on-edge bands that the late '90s had bubbling up while nu metal got all the attention — Converge perhaps most obviously, but not solely. Lahm's howled, raged, but never actually incomprehensible vocals and the crisp frenetic arrangements on songs like "Nothing Sacred" and "Supercell," the latter with a strong instrumental break further given punch by a great brief guitar solo, provide the core calling cards for Serpents as a whole. Meanwhile, a moment like the fried guitar beginning of "Becoming Earth," spindly and aggressive shades of feedback spinning outward, is the best tribute in a dog's age to the power of Daniel Ash's work in the early days of Bauhaus. If Struck by Lightning are out to establish a clear sonic identity first and foremost with excellent songs like "The Watchful Eye" rather than fully experiment with the form, it's no sin given Lahm's previous work, and there's plenty of promise for whatever comes next.