If fuzzy riffs and stretched out solos are your thing, then you will not go wrong picking up the first full-length album from the Brooklyn band River Cult.  The album kicks down the door with Likelihood of Confusion that swings with a Sabbathian riff to open the song before Sean Forlenza’s vocals slide in to flesh out the tune.  Following Confusion is the album’s most ambitious track, The Sophist which is a huge piece of music that drops early in the listening experience but is definitely the high-water mark of the album.  Tempos shift and expand into one another as the band takes you on a 12-minute ride that feels like a late ’69 Hendrix jam.

Much of Halcyon Daze is an instrumental workout with nearly every track stretching into a lengthy jam or two before finishing.  The song Halcyon Daze is a muscular tune that begins slow picking up steam as it chugs through seven minutes of riffage and soaring solos.  Seething is a great example of the band’s ability to get lost in a psych-tinged groove before fading out in a wall of feedback.  Ending the album is Point of Failure which has a southern rock vibe to it with a laid-back build up to the chorus that really highlights Tav Palumbo’s powerful percussion skills.