You’ll read no disrespect from me to Riley McShane because his albums with Allegaeon are incredible. That’s especially true for their most recent, which was my album of the year in 2022, Damnum. However, Ezra Haynes has always been the true voice of Allegaeon. When Riley left after the last album, I was bummed, but hopeful Ezra would rejoin. When it was announced, I was giddy. Now their first output has arrived, and it’s time to see if his rejoining is the right move.

It is, so thanks for reading.

Elaborate? I guess. It wouldn’t be Allegaeon if there wasn’t any exploration or furthering of their sound, which I’m glad to say there is. Take for example,e “Wake Circling Above,” with its 90s death metal atmospheric opening. The slight, deeper tone to the vocals evokes this feeling as well, but then the clean vocals come and remind me of Primordial. Perhaps even Dark Tranquillity. The drumming from Jeff Saltzman stands out, but there’s also quite a lot of the noodly weedily weedlies. Don’t pretend you have no idea what I mean.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for something heavy and to the point, look no further than “The Swarm” or “Chaos Theory.” The former has an almost anxiety-inducing, speedy, finger-tapped riff. While the latter begins in that manner, it settles into a groove, heavily reminding me of the band’s earlier work. I suppose having Ezra back also contributes to that sound.

I’ll admit that I am still more into the experimental side of Allegaeon’s sound, well well-summed up in “Driftwood.” It is slightly below the average Allegaeon song length but manages to fit a whirling riff, as well as soaring clean vocals in the chorus. The transition from growls to cleans is smooth and feels like it was just meant to be that way. It wouldn’t be an Allegaeon track without a frenzied yet tuneful solo, so of course there’s one.

There’s something that just feels right with The Ossuary Lens, like confirmation that life is good (despite my country now being a shit show laughingstock). More of a “the kids are all right” feeling, although they absolutely aren’t. If that doesn’t make sense, I understand.

So far, 2025 has given me a lot of good albums and 3 truly great ones. Of course, my music consumption has taken a bit of a dive, so I’m certain I’ve missed some. However, there are a few at the top, which I have reviewed on the site, so it shouldn’t be difficult as I haven’t reviewed much. When Allegaeon releases something new, there’s always a chance it’s going to be an AOTY contender, and it rarely isn’t. This isn’t one of those rare instances. Does that all make sense? Perhaps not, but what does is that The Ossuary Lens will undoubtedly make my year-end list. I highly recommend checking it out.

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