Priestbird

If you believe in reincarnation as torture, then imagine all the A&R people who, in past lives, signed nothing but copycat bands and reality show winners, returning to this world only to be demoted to the publicity department, being handed a headscratcher of an album like Priestbird’s debut In Your Time and being told to “work with this.” What begins as whispered stoner metal à la Queens of the Stone Age with “Life Not Lost,” a song that concerns itself about where birds go when they die, quickly turns into Obscured by Clouds-era Pink Floyd with “Seasons in the Sun,” (no, not the Terry Jacks hit; nobody’s that avant-garde). And that’s followed by “Guest Room,” a solo acoustic piano piece that Windham Hill wouldn’t turn away. That’s pretty much the sprawling pattern with the trio, who were completely instrumental in their recent past life as Tarantula A.D. Here, they’re exercising their substantial chops playing chamber music, space metal and just plain power chord sludge like “Smoke and Pain,” which is Sabbath so close to the bone you might expect to find the missing tip of Tony Iommi’s finger nearby.