What a fantastic, delicious addition to Seattle three-piece Helms Alee’s arsenal. It slips perfectly in between The Melvins and Dead Meadow with the precision that is tighter than you’d expect from a band that blurs the line between noise and sludge so well. As a concept, stillicide is the continual dripping of water, and this record catches on that reality of Pacific Northwest life to explore the cosmic and conceptual space of living in a place where the ocean is constantly raining down on you. If you can listen to a song like “Galloping Mind Fuk” and not throw your head around, I don’t believe you are human. Only a true Pacific Northwestern metal band could bring together gloom and beauty so perfectly, showing how haunting darkness cut through with foggy light can really be. –Theresa W. (Sargent House, sargenthouse.com)