...But while the group's early work proved to be quite suffocating at times, and Valley of Smoke is still guaranteed to stump even the most experienced musical explorers at first listen (or three, or five), its songs also come across as more fluid and smooth; as more of a body of work than anything that preceded them. Where to begin? Well, there's the rhythmic and textural smorgasbord of "Elegy"; the more linear approach of "Above," which sees the quartet encroaching on Isis territory; the highly percussive title track, which gets as wonky as Primus, then throws in a little bossa nova for good measure; not to mention the flashbacks to everyone from Voivod to Cynic to Atheist to John friggin' Coltrane found on otherworldly soundscapes like "Miasma," "Below," and "Past Tense."...