Elder – Innate Passage

 

 

Elder – Innate Passage
Armageddon Shop / Stickman Records – 2022
Rock, Prog, Psych, Stoner
Rated: *****

Stoner HiVe was started in 2009 to count down the best albums of that year, according to the votes that were cast by followers and friends… And ever since the Dead Roots Stirring album from 2011, ELDER has been on it with every release and usually winning the poll. But ELDER has been around even a bit longer. And the band seems to be able to do the sheer unimaginable every time again. And that is to make yet another even more amazing album, when the one that came before was already unbelievably stunning. Innate Passage is their sixth studio album and is an even more progressive work of art compared to what came before. And even though some might question the vocals on this album. To me, founder, guitarist, vocalist and keyboard player Nick DiSalvo feels perfectly what every composition needed and exactly how the vocals should sit in the mix. Which is probably why Samavayo-vocalist Behrang Alavi adds his voice on two of the tracks. And all of this together makes you feel like you are listening to ELDER at its very best. Which is a feeling you will have throughout the record, just take the gorgeous guitar work on Endless Return, the beautiful keys on Coalescence or that majestic fourth track Merged In Dreams – Ne Plus Ultra with its intense tension arc, razorsharp riffs and pirouette interplay between strings and keys. It simply does not get any better than this… Well, at one point in time, ELDER will release a new album…

(Written by JK)

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