Sometimes, I’ll open up a promo and be captured by a simple phrase. In the case of This is the Last Time, it was only three words: “sweeping instrumental metal.” I clicked play and was met with exactly what it said on the tin: a wordless, epic barrage of downtuned riffs, soaring lead guitar lines, and blastbeats galore.

Acclimation is a collaboration between members of Sunless, Orwell, and Poney, written and recorded remotely while its members were spread across the Midwest and NYC. The aim of the project was to create instrumental arrangements so lush and moving that vocals were unnecessary, channeling iconic post metal acts like ISIS, Pelican, and Year of No Light.

And for the most part, they achieved that aim. Four tracks, all longer than seven minutes, offer up a cosmic perspective of heavy metal, shifting in meter, mood, and scale several times throughout their runtimes. Ambient passages crescendo into crushing djent or blistering blastbeats, weaving cinematic narratives that don’t need lyrics to communicate.

However, there is one aspect that sticks out like a sore thumb: the drum programming. The drum parts themselves are inventive and tasteful, to be sure, but the programming itself lacks nuance, which makes the percussion sound even more robotic than it needs to be. It wouldn’t be such a big deal except that the rest of the instrumentation is so emotive. Still, it’s not enough to gut my enjoyment of the record, which is, as promised, sweeping instrumental metal—and quite a fine example of the genre at that.

Acclimation is out Friday through the band’s Bandcamp.

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