Shifting

Personnel: Luca De Stefano (vocals); Andrea Violante, Matteo Bassoli (guitar); Andrea Gianessi (bouzouki); Simone Marzocchi (trumpet); Enrico Calvano (drums); Francesco Gherardi (tabla).Recording information: Studio 73, Ravenna, Italy (2009).The second album by this Italian post-metal act is an intriguing mix of unexpected elements. Yes, it's got Isis-esque and Neurosis-ish roar, and soft passages in between. But the group puts a unique enough spin on each of those tropes to make the whole thing worth hearing. Lead vocalist Luca De Stefano has two basic modes: bellow and croon. But when he's yelling, he sounds more like Sick of It All's Lou Koller than Isis' Aaron Turner, and when he's singing, he's like a cross between Mike Patton (particularly when the backdrops get weird, like on "7th Moon," where he's shadowed by a gentle trumpet) and Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria. Shifting functions like a suite, with each song leading into the next without a break, and the interstitial pa