My first experience with The Atlas Moth was last September at Lee’s Palace. They were the opening act and put their melodic sludge metal on display. While I felt their set was a bit on the long side, as the songs seemed kind of samey causing the set to drag, I was encouraged enough by their sound to grab a CD.

Alas, like their live show, their latest record “The Old Believer” has the same set of strengths and flaws. The guitar work is interesting and the tone on them is great. But the songs all plod along at roughly the same pace and the melodies are entirely unmemorable. For many sludge and post-metal acts, this kind of thing is to be expected, or even encouraged. But usually bands that want to emphasize their heaviness have more low-end in the mix. Instead the guitars are bright and shimmering. At the same time, similar acts that want to let their instrumentation shine will bury the vocals a bit more.

As is, “The Old Believer” sounds like a record with an identity crisis. It doesn’t know where its strengths are or where to focus its energy. There’s enough cool stuff going on that I’m not going to write off The Atlas Moth. But I don’t think “The Old Believer” is a record I’ll be coming back to any time soon.