The act of combining metal and hardcore with progressive rock is nothing new in the mid-2000s; in fact, it's being done all over the extreme music map, and in all sorts of strange combinations, by the likes of
Mastodon,
Old Man Gloom,
Converge, and countless others. But what may help set
Collapsar apart from most other groups -- aside from being entirely instrumental -- is the fact that the hyperactive,
King Crimson-like intricacy of their densely sculpted creations manage, at different times, to evoke both the sophisticated adventurousness of math metal and the primal aggression of Southern sludge. Which is to say that representative cuts like "Death's Other Dominion" and "Pray to Thor" are as likely to appease the
Dillinger Escape Plan crowd as the
Crowbar set -- so long as neither are too close-minded within their tastes. Comical song titles like "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla" and "King Kong Dies for Your Sins" inevitably sound a little silly and forced when matched to instrumental music, but only slightly distract from the incessant percussive acrobatics, serpentine dual guitar shapes, and mindful synthesizer accents used to lend them added textures and atmosphere. The fully synthetic drums and noises of "Sleep Robot" make for a brief but interesting anomaly, and then it's back to norm (or rather
Collapsar's very abnormal "norm") for "Opus 1," a
Rush-descended space-prog epic coalescing all that came before it, and the closing metal machine music of "Robot Wins" -- all three of which appear to comprise a unified suite. Needless to say, the mere challenge of dissecting and digesting
Collapsar's unorthodox sonic architecture is half of the fun here, so impatient listeners are warned to make room for the geeks headbanging at the front.