With a name like Imminent Sonic Destruction, you might be expecting something a lot more angular and aggressive. What this Detroit outfit offer up instead, however, is some much more considered and expansive—albeit certainly still riff-forward—prog metal. Think early Devin Townsend Project records, like Ocean Machine (1997) or Accelerated (2003), except with Alice in Chains-esque vocal harmonies and big sludgy bends, and the added swagger of someone like Spiritual Beggars, and you're in the right ballpark. The band Imminent Sonic Destruction truly remind me of, though are Blog favourites Fierce Deity, whose distinctive sound I guess is no longer so singular, or maybe even Wheel if they didn't sound like Tool so much.
Floodgate is Imminent Sonic Destruction's fourth album, and its title, which I initially mistook for the band name, may indeed be a more-fitting moniker—perfectly capturing the opening up and flowing forth of creativity that the album and band themselves embody. The mid-part of the record is occupied by more direct offerings, that masterfully utilise their riff-based momentum to make still-ambitious six-minute-plus compositions pass by in what feels like half the time, with the record being book-ended by a two-part, eponymous odyssey, wherein the band get to flex their compositional fins and explore the full fluidity of their sound. There are plenty of deeper textures for more conditioned prog fans to dive into here and more than enough restraint and control to keep more casual metal listeners afloat as well.