I’ve been a metalhead for decades now. I’d always leaned toward heavier rock, but as I made my way through my twenties, and navigated major life changes and the insanity of medical school, heavier music became one of those key coping strategies. And while my heart remained rooted in progressive music, thanks to a lifelong love of the music of Rush, I began to explore the myriad sub-genres found in metal.

More than perhaps any other type of music, metal embraces variety. There are dozens of different sub-genres, yet all are still recognizably metal. Truth is, it is one of the facets of being a metalhead that I find so refreshing. There is no shortage of different styles of metal that I can dip in and out of, with new styles and sounds to discover.

Some bands find their sound, their style, and settle in and make decades long successful careers from that. My personal favorite thrash metal band, Testament, is a perfect example. On (almost) any one of their albums, it is instantly apparent that I am listening to thrash metal, and honestly that I am listening to Testament. Other bands, however, take the risk of mixing different styles, and do so with varying degrees of success.

Enter Gigafauna, a four piece from Uppsala, Sweden. For the sake of disclosure, I will admit that I was unaware of the band until they reached out via the contact form and let me know of their upcoming album, Eye to Windward. Hitting play, I truly had no idea what to expect. What I found, almost instantly, was a band taking that far riskier approach, that chance to mix genres and see what came out.

And what came out on Eye to Windward? A kick-ass album that deftly blends elements of progressive metal, sludge, and melodic death metal with a groove and swagger straight from an 80s hard rock band.

Songs move between moments of heavy grooves, crushing death metal riffs, clean vocals and growls, and back to those heavy grooves. The sense of swagger is ever present, even when the drums move to double time and the growls come barreling in. This all comes together to keep the heaviness from ever becoming overwhelming. Don’t mistake what I am saying: This is a metal album, through and through. But there is a sense of what I would describe as playfulness in how the band weaves together these different styles that keeps if from feeling oppressive.

Some days, I welcome the oppression and darkness that metal can provide. Eye to Windward keeps me engaged with its, at times, crushing heaviness. Yet the variety between the vocal styles and the riffs keeps the album feeling interesting, explorative, and injects a sense of joy into the music, even when the songs are dead serious. This is a difficult trick to pull off, and many bands falter as they try to do so. An excellent example is mid-album track “Plagued”. Harsh vocals start out, with an almost stomping beat. But the band isn’t afraid to take that places, with soaring vocals, textural variations in the guitars, and playing with moments of stripped back drums and bass coupled with layered guitars and vocals. It is an excellent showcase of all the different tools Gigafauna has at their disposal.

Other tracks are more focused. “Pyres” is heavy out of the gate, with my favorite riff on the album. Even here, though, there is a sense of dynamics that prevents the music from ever feeling stale. Album finale, “Vessel,” is a worthy way to close out this journey, taking us through all of the feelings of the album in a fantastic capstone on the experience. A sludgy, progressive, death-tinged epic, Gigafauna sticks the hooks in, tantalizingly hinting at where they may choose to go from here.

That doesn’t mean the album is perfect. There are some transitions that feel less fluid, slightly forced. There are moments where the disparate elements don’t come together perfectly. But that is always the risk when trying to marry these different styles. And while not perfect, the songs are all supremely enjoyable and performed with incredible talent. I am left impressed by the successes found on Eye to Windward, which far outshine the few bumps on the road.

For a band to come out of the dark and really blow me away is no small feat. Gigafauna has done just that with their release Eye to Windward. Mixing metal styles can either pay off or backfire spectacularly, and here it pays off with aplomb.