Dialectic of Ignorance

Recording information: Studio-A (2016).
Long-tenured heavy psych outfit Pontiak return with the potent Dialectic of Ignorance, marking the trio's ninth and possibly sludgiest effort to date. Since 2005, brothers Van, Jennings, and Lain Carney have forged their career out of heaping doses of proto-metal, stoner rock, and acid-laced neo-psychedelia, veering in and out of different ratios with each release. In the years since 2014's Innocence, they've also launched a parallel career as makers of craft beer at their own Pen Druid Brewing in their native Virginia. Recording by night and brewing by day, the hard-working Carneys devoted 2016 to their twin creative enterprises, emerging with a distinctively heavy record made for heavy times. Almost meditative in its massively fuzzed, slow-brewing grooves, Dialectic of Ignorance's eight tracks propel forward while the brothers deliver the bulk of the album's lyrics in a brotherly triad of three-part harmony. More committed to the long form than on their previous outing, Pontiak offer a slow-moving and often challenging listen, though one not without its dynamic high points. The stoic Floyd-meets-Sabbath majesty of "Hidden Prettiness" and its wily psych-casualty cousin "Herb Is My Next Door Neighbor" are of particular interest, pairing vocal lushness with great instrumental heft. Likewise, the muscular "Dirtbags" follows a similar path, showing a band that, after numerous releases, is still a unified and creative presence. ~ Timothy Monger