Overmars

After obscure split releases with Iscariote, Done For, and Fugüe, Lyon, France’s Overmars issue their full-length debut, Affliction, Endocrine…Vertigo, and the music contained within is just as mottled as that title implies. This young septet draw in the reins directly with their Mosquito Control-era Isis belligerence in album opener "Obsolete,” which fades out after three minutes to reveal placid passages of Transmission0-like brooding. After a dash of Cavity-styled feedback, "This Is Rape” assumes an almost Sleep-induced hypnosis for a few minutes until the drums kick in with phaser-ridden guitars. The first of a five-part ambient/acoustic suite, "Destroy All Dreamers” segregates the noise tracks, giving the album needed breathing room. The guitar in the serene, Opeth-ish "Deux Mesures De Solitude” keeps the same mechanised cadence as Godflesh’s "Flowers,” while the lengthily titled "Buccolision/The Mistaken One — Part II (Geography Is Just A Symptom)” is a jarring noise pastiche of piano, guttural growling, spoken word French, and unnerving female screams. "A Spermwhale’s Quest” assumes Isis’s quieter mantle, while the Pelican-like prog of "En Memoire Des Faibles Qui Ont Survecu a Darwin” nods to Cult of Luna with a dash of Godflesh mechanics. Starting with a slide guitar out of Pink Floyd’s Meddle, "From Love To Exhausting: The Story Of This Intangible Thing Between Us” doesn’t stray far out of Harvey Milk territory, and the "Destroy All Dreamers” interludes provide Mindrot-like atmospherics all the while. Like Callisto before them, Overmars have created true concept art, and Affliction, Endocrine…Vertigo places the band as frontrunners in the post-Neurosis sweeps.