Santa Barbara, CA based Ambionic have already begun to make an admirable dent for themselves through constant live shows at local venues and this, their 5 song debut. With a musical style that combines elements of emo, prog and alternative rock with the grace of A Perfect Circle, Failure and recent Cave In, the sound is brooding and yet sharply dynamic, creating tension through cleverly restrained timing structures and the use of sweeping, colorful sonic palettes.

Band frontman Jason's crisp mid-range tones compliment the music well as he exhibits a strong sense of control with a nearly serene delivery, sounding like a cross between Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle, with a touch of perhaps Rush's Geddy Lee. The guitar work is precise and perhaps the most emo/alt-rock styled instrumental contribution of the band, utilizing the repetition of piercing, lightly distorted riffs to jab out the aggressive parts, while also calling upon soothingly clean tones and drawn out melodies to sculpt hypnotically resilient verse passages. The dense basslines however, help to solidify the songs together and anchor them as a whole, using a style that is dulled and almost melancholic, creating an interesting contrast with their more brightly tinged 6 stringed counterpart in the process. Drum wise the outing is riddled with a very Tool-ish playing style, yet not so much in terms of technical mastery, rather more in a sense of off timed hits and a demeanor that is as thunderous as it is calm. Its both potent and menacing, yet creative and effortlessly disciplined, heavily adding a noticeable degree of ethereality to the music overall. Meanwhile, the inclusion of a cello is also present here on a track or two, adding depth to the songs and really allowing them to suck the listener inward, while increasing the range of the band overall.

Song writing is definitely a key point of Ambionic and with such flowing breakdowns and buildups, its hard not to get swept away by the songs as they continually progress. The maturity and talent of the music is also quite startling, when considering that this is only their first release, suggesting that this group will be hitting its full stride a lot sooner than most of their peers. Its rhythmic and emotional yet callused in a sense, drawing upon a rich sonic arsenal and tactful composition to captivate the listener rather than using an array of fancy gimmicks or catchy hooks. Its true that the band do dwell pretty much exclusively in the mid-tempo range, making it a bit hard to distinguish track from track and there is also definitely a heavy influence of A Perfect Circle; But in the end they do manage to stand on their own and though this isn't a release that will necessarily blow people off of their feet, it will perfectly accentuate those dark rainy days when they just want to drift away.