Starting out from a massive, earthbound stoner metal, the Americans of Elder have, record after record, steadily risen toward more aerial territories. What was at first merely a matter of heavy riffs has mutated into a progressive rock of striking harmonic richness. Innate Passage crowns this metamorphosis: five long compositions that unfold a sonic journey of uncommon luminosity.
The critics (an 84 average across eight reviews) hail a record of dazzling maturity, where the band fully assume their progressive dimension without renouncing their roots. The riffs are still there, but wrapped in vintage keyboards, intertwined melodies, arrangements that evoke krautrock as much as 1970s rock.
What seduces is the sense of movement. Each track is a journey, a succession of landscapes that chain together with remarkable fluidity. Elder seek not aggression but elevation, that sensation of weightlessness the finest psychedelic records provide.
One might regret that this quest for beauty comes at the cost of a certain loss of bite: fans of the rougher early Elder may find the whole too polished, almost contemplative. Power has given way to grace.
Verdict: 8.5/10. A sumptuous, generous record, confirming Elder as one of the most inspired outfits of a modern, sunlit progressive rock.
