MOLYBARON was formed by two Irish blokes, living in Paris; Gary Kelly and Steven Andre. This is described as Progressive Metal, which is not untrue, but I think I'd stick them closer to Alternative Metal. First things first the production is great, the low end is thick and heavy, but the bass is quite audible and quite fat. Gary Kelly has quite an interesting voice, well befitting the alternative metal style for sure. He's got this gruff croon going for him and it works gangbusters in this context. Also when he goes for the high notes they sound appropriately intense. If I had to compare this band to another, I would say they make me think of MASTODON, but a little cleaner. Less sludge and more alt rock with some dienty guitar riffing going on. Fortunately these guys understand how rhythmic variety is necessary and they keep the music interesting and unpredictable. Often when I thought I knew where they were going with something, they'd take a different path and I really appreciated that.

I'll admit this isn't a subgenre I know particularly well, I can certainly appreciate it, and it's origins in the 90s alt rock movement, but I can't really put this album in a historical, or "influenced by" context. Rather than talk about individual songs, I'd rather talk about the formula the band uses in designing their music. That's not a criticism, for me when a band finds a groove, a niche if you will, it's best for them to use it as much as possible. What I mean is that each song follows a roughly similar structure and with a couple of stylistic outliers, each song has similar transitions and pacing. The riffs are really clean -credit to the engineer who mixed and produced this- and the rhythm guitars really end up being the driving force behind almost everything going on here. The rhythms are nicely varied and the harmonic rhythm is quite fast. One of the stand out tracks to me was "Amongst the Boys and the Dead Flowers". This song came across as a lot more progressive than the rest of the album with lots of intricate and complex guitar work, lots of transitions and different sections. Progressive metal isn't just about length, it's about how you use the structure of your songs, and these guys have a keen sense of songwriting. Oh and this was probably the chorus that stood out to me the most. The hooks aren't exactly the most impressive element of this album, but when they're good, they're fantastic.

"The Lighthouse" gives us sort of a prog ballad; it starts with a nice slow burn and thanks to it's short length it doesn't overstay its welcome. This might seem weird, but this one almost felt like a MYRATH song at times and I liked it. When these guys want to build up to a greater breakdown, they do it really well and I would actually say that is the biggest strength of this album. The other standout was "Slave to the Algorithm", mostly because it's the fastest song on the album and it ends up feeling more like a prog/power song than an alt metal one. Don't get me wrong, I did really like this album, but it kind of got old a little quick? Like it's fun and I'll definitely be listening to this in the future, but I feel like there is a lack of variety in their approach and sound. I would like to see these guys push more boundaries and strive for bigger things. If they chose to embrace the prog aspects of their music, and maintain their heavy play style, as well as the pristine production they could really make an album that blows me away. For now, this one is merely mildly impressive.

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