These Arms Are Snakes. A natural force, that thunders with constant contradiction and challenge. Self-described as, "Four men with a chronic black cloud overhead; bitter, bummed out, and bored," they couple dark pessimism with an elemental energy that does not end.On "Tail Swallower & Dove," These Arms Are Snakes move through 10-songs with the cracked grace of bolted lightning, rolling and leveling, seeking a space to storm into. The band, comprised of Chris Common (drums, percussion), Brian Cook (bass, guitar, keyboards), Ryan Frederiksen (guitar, keyboards), Steve Snere (vocals, effects), have brought their non-stop work ethic of touring and beyond-intense performance to the studio with career defining result. Not any one thing. TAAS play with their history, with their personalities built deep into the music. You hear it in every innovation, behind each note. A beautiful collision of what has always been with what is completely unexpected. It's evident in the weight of the words, structure of the songs, the linkage of current and construction: concrete writing, coupled with a natural approach to recording, that brought the band - helmed by Chris Common, to produce and engineer - back into the semi-secret Red Room, in Seattle, Washington, to track and mix.The result is more an album - a coherent whole - than a cycle of individual songs. The music circles around, from beginning to end, looping seamlessly and devouring any sense of arrested motion. The first single, "Red Line Season," is all guitar-hook-squirm, leading to an anthem of a chorus. "Seven Curtains" explodes into being after thirty- seconds of gorgeous, low volume riffing. It's here that the band's strength in the studio really shows. From the textural depth of the keyboards and guitar tones, to the vocal delivery, the attention to detail is incredible. Each sound sets up huge spatial relationships, creating a dynamic tug-o-war, and building up a groove that continues throughout - marked by impossibly nimble drumming - blowing up the room with resonant vibration. Relentless, and restless - nothing in nature says no. And from this direction comes These Arms Are Snakes, a dark cloud of sound thundering, waiting to burst and drown everything in their noise.