When unexpectedly but happily reemerged in the late '90s with , the quartet demonstrated clearly that they weren't planning on resting on their cult laurels. Having subtly experimented with changing sounds over time, on , and company explored, quite successfully, drone rock in the vein of or , albeit in a less generally skull-crushing sense. didn't wholly abandon their trademark post-punk atmospherics, by any means, but incorporated this new approach to create a fine fusion. The slow opening notes to the album, the beginning of captures this balance well, at once a lovely synth-based wash thanks to 's keyboards and, especially when ' drums kick in, a good head-nodder. 's vocals retain their strong, just dramatic enough timbre throughout , while his bandmates once again are a perfectly simpatico set of players for his often dreamy, passionate lyrics. Songs like and with a striking series of chimed bells to its credit, definitely call up a shadowy sense of the moodier corners of 1969. The closing is especially strong, a slowly building ten-minute monster. When it comes to the soaring, sweeping rock that the band is known for, longtime fans need not worry -- is easily the equal of such past high points as at once a roaring monster and a romantic, passionate piece. Look out for the limited-edition two-disc version of the album if possible for the band's lengthy drone piece Divided into two parts of nearly equal length over most of the course of an hour, it's a fine instrumental performance that neatly steers away from sounding like an expected drone/post-rock piece over its always slightly changing course. ~ Ned Raggett