We often speak here about the oversaturation of genres and how that affects creativity and freshness. Doom and sludge are two subgenres in particular that have overflowed with participants, so much so that today’s next big band is often an afterthought before the sun sets. It can be overwhelming.

With any style of music that sees its ranks swell to such a dramatic degree, two things can keep new artists, and old ones who have watched their initial originality turn into a trend, from disappearing into the background: passion and creativity. Those two elements typically lead me on my way into what bands I discard after writing about their records (even if I like what I heard musically) and what bands become part of my regular rotation. Ever since their debut EP, Dark Castle’s music has stuck with me despite their having to compete with so many faces. Their impact was immediate with their “Flight of the Pegasus” debut, and their first full-length album “Spirited Migration” capitalized on that initial potential and made them one of metal’s most promising acts.

Now comes their second album and with it a move from At a Loss to Profound Lore. There had been rumblings that what the world would hear on their sophomore disc “Surrender to All Life Beyond Form” would signal changes compositionally and a bit of a departure from what they’d already committed to history. For one, they rely more on Eastern musical styles and scales to construct the music heard here, and there’s a deeper concentration on psychedelic guitar effects, which at first felt a little bit repetitive since they’re used so much but eventually helped me understand the overall personality of the record. Also, Stevie Floyd’s vocals are still crushing for the most part, but she pulls back more than ever before, sometimes sounding a bit like Kylesa’s Laura Pleasants. These alterations are what help make “Surrender” such in interesting, introspective, emotional and unexpected listen, and one that, at least for me, puts it into contention for metal album of the year. If you read other reviews (as I have), you will know I largely stand alone on this line of thinking. To each his or her own, but the more I listened to this album, the more I realized I was perhaps getting ready to champion one of the year’s most misunderstood and underappreciated albums. Not that that’s ever bothered me before.

The album is fairly short at just under 34 minutes, but it also feels just about right. I always dug those thrash albums from the ’80s that were about this length because they got in, made their point, and got back out. So less is more here. Also, unlike many other doom acts, Dark Castle’s songs aren’t epics, with the longest cut being the trippy, damaged, tortured “Heavy Eyes” at 5:59. It always feels like the band makes the best of the time they use and they don’t ramble on endlessly.

The title cut opens the collection as Dark Castle – Floyd is joined by drummer/multi-instrumentalist Rob Shaffer, though they get help from Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium, Minsk), Blake Judd (also Nachtmystium), Nate Hall (U.S. Christmas) and Mike Scheidt (YOB) – immediately launch into muddy thrashing, driving feedback and Floyd’s monstrous growls. “Slave Into Absence” is in the same vein, as is “Seeing Through Time,” where the vocals take on more of a talking/shouting tone. “I Hear Wind” is vicious, with prog and drone undertones, with a lead guitar line that snakes over top and slips back under the wreckage. Where the band really throws caution to the wind is in their less-conventional approach to some of the other tracks. “Spirit Ritual” sounds like the band is in a trance, with noise rushing, bells chiming and Scheidt’s nasal chanting trying to grab ghosts from other dimensions, while “To Hide Is the Die” is where Parker really makes his mark, letting his keys lap over a more mid-tempo track that ends with Floyd advising, “Look not behind your eye.”

As noted, this has not been a universally embraced record. I think some people expected (wanted?) “Spirited Migration 2,” and if that’s the case, why even bother? Just listen to that record if you like it so much. Dark Castle clearly have their dreams concentrated on higher planes – musically, spiritually, and philosophically – plus the passion and creativity is here in spades. Just reading the lyrics to the album lets you know you’re not getting what most come to expect from the doom, sludge genre, though they do match the psychedelic shell. It can be difficult to separate ourselves from a band’s past catalog when taking on a new album, and sometimes that’s OK. Like, as much as I like Amon Amarth, I don’t really hold them to forward progress. I know what I’m getting. Dark Castle are a different beast, and it seems they’re getting knocked around for expanding their minds. Well, not here. “Surrender to All Life Beyond Form” did take some time to sink in for me, but now that it has, I’ve listened with regularity, which has gotten in the way a bit of other albums I need to review. But that’s a good thing because, with so much music in my queue, having one stand out so noticeably is a joy.

I can’t wait to hear what the band does next, and I can only imagine what they might sound like in five years. But why rush it? “Surrender” is such a giving, adventurous, satisfying album, that I think I’ll relish what I have now because this duo makes their next sojourn into space and time.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.myspace.com/darkcastlemetal

For more on the label, go here: http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/

To buy “Surrender to All Life Beyond Form,” go here: http://www.profoundlorerecords.com//index.php?option=com_ezcatalog&task=detail&id=752&Itemid=99999999

It seems a little premature to be discussing Christmas, and as we on the East Coast are being roasted to death, it seems like the furthest thing from the mind.

And it is, if you’re talking about the holiday. If, instead, you’re thinking about the Appalachia-inspired, psychedelic band U.S. Christmas, then it is not too early to spread tidings of joy. After their excellent 2010 album “Run Thick in the Night” dropped and demolished listeners, we get a follow-up already with “The Valley Path,” an effort that philosophically carries on the last album’s spirit but does so in a completely different way. Unlike last time around, when we got 13 tracks, “The Valley Path” has but one, yet it takes about 40 minutes to run its course. It’s an interesting idea that has been tackled before by bands such as Sleep, Pussygutt and Jethro Tull and countless others, and if done right, it can be a worthy project. If not, it’s a pointless throwaway of an effort. Luckily for USX, this works in spades.

The band has been fairly prolific in their nine years together. Having formed in Marion, N.C., in the summer of 2002, the band wasted no time getting music into the world by way of two CD-R recordings – “Bad Heart Bull” in 2005 and “Salt the Wound” in 2006 on a Russian label (which is baffling on so many levels), before landing at Neurot for a 12-inch and 2008’s “Eat the Low Dogs.” All the while, the Nate Hall-led band adopted a working attitude, touring relentlessly and playing their music anywhere they could find an audience. All the while, respect grew, their oddball name became more recognizable, and their sixth effort had a sense of anticipation behind it after what they accomplished on “Run Thick.”

While USX – Hall, Matt Johnson (synth, guitars, sound), BJ Graves (drums), Justin Whitlow (drums, experimental sounds), Josh Holt (bass, drones), Meghan Mulhearn (violin) —  have a base in metal, with their sometimes doomy sound and relation with Neurot, their audience certainly shouldn’t be limited to that. Fans of Southern rock, classic rock, country (real country not the current pop-country crop), psychedelic rock, and atmospheric ambiance should find something to like here. You even could say someone who likes classical music but has interest in rock also might be well-served here because of how this album is put together. As mentioned, “The Valley Path” is one song. But even though it is, it feels like five or six songs fixed together seamlessly. The composition rises and falls, so much so that if they wanted to break this album up into passages, they could have. But it also probably would have gone against the philosophy of the record and its idea of being one piece that isn’t supposed to be digested in parts. It really wouldn’t make as much sense that way.

The songs starts feeling fairly sinister, with slurry doom and Hall warning, “There is a time for wicked illusion.” This part slithers along and sets up the story, and even though it fades after several minutes, it returns at about the 28-minute mark. The song bleeds into a more raucous mid-section, where the Southern traits show, making friends with those who feast on Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Bros., with Mulhearn’s string work simmering and conjuring up souls. Her expression and playing reminds me a lot of Jackie Perez Gratz’s cello work, and she’s the star of the middle of the record. We revisit the path’s introductory sequence before the finale sets into place, firing headlong into dreamy slide guitar and a rush of atmosphere that remind me of some of Pink Floyd’s headier work. The scenes fade into chirps, almost as if it’s trying to slip back into the woods. It’s like a 40-minute movie, really.

The first time I took on “The Valley Path,” I sat stunned. It’s such an adventurous piece of music, and any worry I had over taking on a one-song album dissipated. I immediately listened to it again, and a few times on my daily walks, I’ve indulged in the record as it seemed to match perfectly what I was seeing as I was enveloped in canopies of leaves and trees and the psychological comfort of my simple suburb. In fact, on one of my walks, a thunderstorm was brewing and casting a pall over the streets in front of me, yet that seemed to open up some of the darkness on the record. I’ve listened on long drives, in parking lots as I waited for my wife to get off a bus, as I worked. It fits everywhere, and it always seems to open up my mind and help me achieve deeper thinking. I already was a fan of the band, but “The Valley Path” just endeared me to U.S. Christmas even more so. This is the type of album very few bands could make work at all, and the fact that USX do it so well, so dramatically, just goes to show how valuable they are.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.myspace.com/uschristmas

For more on the label, go here: http://www.neurotrecordings.com/

To buy “The Valley Path,” go here: http://www.bluecollardistro.com/neurotrecordings/categories.php?cPath=1030_1031_1149

Also, while delayed a bit, tomorrow will feature a visit with a record that is a heavy favorite for my metal album of the year. I got held up a bit because my wife and I took a trip to celebrate our anniversary, and I didn’t have nearly enough time to write. That’s a good thing.