The shrill choir might be what averts/attracts people from appreciating Tartufi. Yes, you hear the quiet build of early Mineral, the chanting of Arcade Fire, the guitar cascades of Explosions in the Sky, the energy of Milemarker, but such simplistic characterizations and similarities fail to hint at the originality and bombast going on in these sonic collisions. At first, I thought this album was a nice loud lullaby. No, everything departs, leaving flames, uplifted on tribal rhythms that culminate in howls and wails resembling a caterwauling mutiny, only to fall into valleys of ambient hums, before being shredded in an overwhelming landslide of guitars. The album travels perpetually in a satisfying wave of memorable crescendos. Also, don’t listen to track four on the highway during afternoon traffic when it’s raining, you might die, because when it appears out of the soothing tones of the previous song, you are unprepared.

- Shawn Goldberg