From Vienna, Austria and London, UK, comes the Avant Garde/Progressive/Black/Doom quintet LYCHGATE. Formed in 2011, they present their third album titled "The Contagion In Nine Steps," which was inspired by Stanislaw Lem's book "The Invincible," and historical and philosophical sources on the idea of swarm behavior in crowds and civilizations from the era of Plato, to Le Bon, and the modern era. "Contagion" is defined as the communication of disease (or ideas and practices) from one person to another by close contact. The album contains six tracks.

"Republic" leads off the album with dissonant and ominous organ notes. What ensues is something deeply unique. Throw out conventions and soak this in. It is gloriously progressive, sophisticated, dark and weighted. It's hard to ignore the layering here-even though it is frequently discussed, it is surely one of the main features. Somehow the layers at first seem incongruous but a deeper listen allows you to make the connections. "Unity of Opposites" opens with some guitar and bass parts that seem to dance with one another in a way that sounds like they are both in different dimensions. The vocals are sometime clean and other times harsh. There are some elements of a band like OPETH here at times, but even that it too simple to describe the song. They shift time meters like an expert alchemist creating a potion out of thin air.

"Atavistic Hypnosis" is really outer world level. It's a nine-minute trip through a wormhole that leads to extrasolar existence, and unlike anything that I have heard before. Atavistic means "relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral." Sometimes the song is playful yet at other times menacing. The construct is really something divergent and enjoyable in a way that you can't quite quantify. "Hither Comes the Swarm" opens with piano, bass guitar and drums in a somber tone, leading to low distorted guitar chords and guttural vocals. The whole of the track sounds like it was dug up unknowingly in the depths of Moria, together with the Balrog in "The Lord of the Rings." The storm coming is pure pestilence and once it has been freed there is no escape.

"The Contagion" is a chaotic affair at times, twisting rhythms and times while darting in and out of the darkness and the light. The clean vocals are almost ritualistic chants, answered by authoritative Death vocals in a commanding fashion. The mutilation and torture is done in sequestered shadows. You can hear the screams and feel the pain but are unable to help; frozen in time. The ending notes sound like creepy toy bells that would put a child to sleep. "Remembrance" closes the album. For the first time on the album, it warms in the light of major chords more than the coldness that comes from loss. It's bleak and mournful, but calming and soothing at the same time. The clean harmonic vocals keep the tears at bay just long enough to take in the beauty of the song.

Boundaries be damned. The creativity that went into the compositions here is sobering. The album is vastly expressive, with so many folds and seams. When you lift one, you unlock something completely different than you heard before. They masterfully craft an album that is ever-moving and ever-shifting, and intertwine instrumental and vocal elements in a totally unique way. It's deep and far reaching, but also enjoyable to listen to.