Quick, Before It Melts.

My first taste of Mercury Rev was their pair of sonic-assaulting first albums, Yerself Is Steam (I always loved that pun), and Boces in '91 and '93 respectively. Their psychedelic, experimental sound was of the moment, as the likes of My Bloody Valentine and the entire shoegazing armada were making life interesting in the wake of Madchester (I especially loved "Bronx Cheer" off of Boces--killer tune!).

Then things got a bit... well, less experimental. By the time of '98's Deserter's Songs, the melodies and pop stylings of songs like "Tonite It Shows" made Mercury Rev the darlings of the music world, and garnered them some album of the year accolades. Their last album, '05's The Secret Migration failed to really impress me all that much, and I was kind of missing their edgier, more rocking moments.

Well, those moments are back. Mercury Rev have announced that they'll be releasing two albums on September 29: Snowflake Midnight, which will be available for purchase, and Strange Attractor, which will be released as a free download. "Senses on Fire" is from Snowflake Midnight, and though it still has some of that wide-screen pastoral sound of their last few albums, the edginess is back.