

The slow motion was still there, as were the winding, deliberate riffs. After a nine-year hiatus, Dylan Carlson returned with a bigger lineup and, this time, a surprising sound. It was loud, punishing, and new drone metal, the genre, followed. "Ouroboros Is Broken", the 18-minute monster on the B-side, spewed its riff through distortion, baring claws over the industrial thwack of a drum machine before slowing down and stretching out toward forever. Suddenly, that clever little device rock bands had used to hook kids for decades was more than an accessory it was the main event, and it was mean.

Extra-Capsular Extraction, the debut EP by the Washington state duo, made riffs slow, oppressive, and, perhaps most important, solitary.
