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Every bit of euphoria, spiritual ascent, and power of heavy music radiates with overwhelming force from the second album by this self-proclaimed "blissful black metal" collective based in Los Angeles.

The Spiritual Sound combines immense heaviness with creative intricacies. Key track the song Bodhidharma rides a riff suited to a motorcycle crew, before a blast of noise and shrieking introduces a sad post-rock middle eight. The often-criticized technique of the virtuosic guitar solo is spectacularly resurrected by guitarist Richard Chowenhill, whose lead work on this track and on standout the song Flea will have you levitating with joy – but then the gentle song the track Hallelujah features falling guitar notes played with youthful innocence.

Tracks like Micah and Serenity are fast-paced punk rock, while Dan’s Love Song is drum free and has glacial drone-metal fuzz rumbling underneath its dream-pop loveliness. Melodies in black metal can often be either nonexistent or too complex, yet Agriculture’s riffs and hooks are bright and original, and final track The Reply even recalls a more intense the band Radiohead.

Listeners who enjoy experimental metal acts similar artists will probably love all this contrasting dynamics and unabashedly gorgeous noise, especially because the group also feature two divergent vocal styles, split here across two vocalists. Dan Meyer contributes occasional melodic vocals, but the star is the other vocalist, her voice quivers on Bodhidharma but splenetically caterwauling elsewhere.

In typical black metal fashion, it’s hard to discern her lyrics, but they’re worth seeking out: the narratives she sings about suicidal friends and anti-LGBTQ bigotry are heart-wrenching, just like her search for meaning in a world that inexorably bends towards violence.