[Akathisia]

I picked up The End's 2007 album "Elementary" on a whim a few weeks ago, listened to it in the car and chucked it on the CD rack dismissing it as a mediocre at best.

I pulled it out when ripping all of my albums in iTunes the other day and have been listening to it in rotation with the new Mastodon almost non-stop. This album takes a few listens but it's really quite good. My previous experiences with The End had been on Pandora several years ago and, and this album is quite the change.

The opening track is what I remembered, non-stop heavy with screaming vocals. From the title track the album blossoms into an amalgamation of The End's traditional heavy sound and what can only be described as Tool'esque repetitious riffing and vocal meanderings. His soft voice has both Maynard like elements of flow and melody but sounds more like an adult Anthony Green (Circa Survive).

Very dark and has a deep feel that reminds me again of Tool's "Ænima" and Undertow, that sound that draws you in to pit of black swirled with undertones of greens, reds, and blues (I don't even know if that will make sense to anyone...)

I apologize for not being the best review writer, but I highly recommend this album.