In the same league as Isis, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, and Neurosis, Mouth of the Architect have developed a beast of a sound. Their beautiful and frightening powerful riffs break down and give way to chaos. A powerhouse of a band.

Mouth of the Architect hooked me in with their 4 song album, Time and Withering, a couple years ago. I described their music as "slow, mushrooming beauty," very much like those time lapse videos you see on discovery channel minus the time lapse. This time the band brings almost twice the content and in the exact same fashion. What is different this time is the consistent flavor of the music. The band has definitely found a sound which flows evenly and viscously. Being a Neurosis, Cult of Luna, Isis, and Pelican enthusiast it is easy to just subconsciously agree with what the music is doing to you. It's just good. One of the best things about this album I feel is the use of recurring melody in most songs. It gels all the songs together in a subliminal way. And it is also used judiciously to a point which makes you wonder whether it really is the same little piece of melody you heard earlier.

Mouth of the Architect delivers exactly what I expected out of their first real album. A solid batch of six songs that are soaked with post-rock, drone, Isis-y goodness but still manages to sound different. I cannot call this band a band a clone of any of the bands that I compared it to earlier. The Ties That Bind has no disappointments, only further expectations and more time in the CD player.

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