Some bands are ambitious. And then there’s Lazer/Wulf. The concept behind the prog-metal trio’s new album, The Beast Of Left And Right, is more than ambitious; it’s kind of insane. Guitarist Bryan Aiken, bassist Sean Peiffer, and drummer Brad Rice have constructed an entire, full-length work of technical yet melodic metal that forms a palindrome. Yes, it’s the same backward and forward, in a thematic sense; rather than just flipping around half an album, running it backward, and calling it a perfect palindrome, the band has intricately, imaginatively reversed and synched riffs, lyrics, and other elements of each song before synching them up to their mirror-image counterparts. The Beast Of Left And Right isn’t overwhelmed by its structure; it’s enhanced by it, to the point where Lazer/Wulf has pushed itself into brain-twisting new territory as songwriters and instrumentalists. All the big ideas aside, it’s also an ass-kicking and deeply listenable record, no matter which way you slice it.


The Beast Of Left And Right will be released July 15 via Retro Futurist Records.