Holy shit. That was my first response. My second response was another "Holy shit" followed by "What the fuck" and a serious "huhh?" I went back and listened again a week later but nothing had changed.

Needless to say this is not the serious, sweaty dance-punk I have come to know and enjoy from Liars.

It would be easy to say that this is simply hard to listen to or dense or noisy or a-rhythmic, and it mostly is. It is not devoid of rhythm or melody or even hooks, but it comes very close. It's got more of a geologic pulse sped up than a danceable beat, and its pervasive imagery - witches, black magic, persecution, retribution - doesn't leave much to grab onto by way of a life vest. It's like a scary movie with a high concept to production values ratio. And like said scary movie it can suck you in and make you watch inspite of yourself. Not your starter noise album, or even a representative Liars disc, but it is sure to be a colorful asterisk in the career of the rising NYC band.