Not entirely sure what Cryptodira are trying to achieve, but whatever it is it doesn’t entirely work. They run the gamut of modern, proggified post-metal, roaring some, widdling a bit, getting mediocrely melodic and winding these various elements around each other. Sections are played competently if without verve, but as a whole it sounds rather muddled and disjointed. Check out So Is The Tongue, Wild Throne or hark back to the first Circle Takes The Square LP if you want to hear the same sort of thing done with far more skill and panache. Over on the other side the usually formidable East Of The Wall have a crack at a Nick Drake number, which was maybe a bit of a silly idea. The venture begins fairly faithfully before the song is thrown rudely over one hairy shoulder and carried off into a thick, tangled jungle of proggy vines and creepers. This is all well and good, but when sunlight glints through the branches and you can actually tell it’s a Nick Drake song everything rather fall apart and makes you question its purpose – after all, why not offer up a decent new track rather than batter a familiar, well-liked song about the head while weaving it in among a style that doesn’t suit it in the slightest. Hmm?
