Well this is not what I expected. Based on the facts that Le Stelle: A Voyage Adrift comes via Supernatural Cat and boasts guest spots from fellow Italians Urlo and Poia of the gloriously psychedoomic Ufomammut, I was fully expecting some kind of otherworldly slow-and-low brown acid doom.

Incoming Cerebral Overdrive is nothing of the sort. But I’m not disappointed.

Instead, Le Stelle: A Voyage Adrift, the band’s third offering, deals out a satisfying brand of genre-crossing kinetic overload in the vein of Mastodon and Baroness, without sounding a whole lot like either of those bands. But ICO uses that same style of riff patterns — pull-off riffs chasing their tails in hypnotic spiral, chugging down-picking to punctuate and draw in energy for the next release. What works so well here is that they are able to capture that spastic, careening feel, but it’s truly nothing more than slight of hand, relying on dissonant patterns, tightly packed, spinning round and round before heading off in some new direction, sometimes related, other times not so much. They’re rarely as jolting as the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan, but are likely to please their faithful.

Incoming Cerebral Overdrive does throw a few curveballs, like the damn near black metal vocals in “Kochab” and the occasional hints of progressive leanings and atmospherics that crop up throughout the record, the latter of which make sense given the Ufomammut connection. But unlike Ufomammut and Mastodon, ICO’s songs are short and snappy, catchy but rarely sitting on a single riff long enough to settle into repetition. Still, the band would benefit from leaning harder on trippy proggressive elements, as they would help create some separation from their influences. That said, Le Stelle: A Voyage Adrift is easily a trip worth taking. (7.5/10)