The Turning is the kind of album I could put in my car and leave it in all summer listening to it over and over. It’s short enough that it leaves you wanting more, while there’s also enough on it to leave an impression. The album seems to sit genre wise in between progressive rock, stoner metal, and country oddly enough. This mix left the album both engaging and memorable. I also liked how most of the tracks seemed to flow into each other whether by lingering feedback, percussive sounds or ambience.

To try and give the impression the album gave me I’ve broken it down track by track:

Chasm – it’s barely a song on its own, it’s the intro noise to brace you for…

In the Heat of the Dying Sun – The song starts off in a stoner rock kind of style, then vocals come in clear and clean. After not too much time goes by the guitar goes into a riff that was hard to wrap my head around upon the first couple listens with its gallop and eighth note combination. A notable vocal part was buried a little further back in the track, the scream “SUN”, makes it one of the two heavy vocals points on the album.

The Traveler – This is the first single I heard on the album and convinced me to listen to the rest. The main guitar riff is both unusual and catchy, which is a bit of a theme that goes on for the album. Then the verses take a slower pace of the former riff, and continues in an uncommon song structure that eventually leads back into the main riff.

The Cloth – A bit of a spacey country western style intro, that brings up images of heat in the desert, and after a couple listens through you start to anticipate the banjo that comes in for the second verse and it fits surprisingly well. Soaring vocals, banjo, spacey guitars, and I can’t forget to mention the pedal steel guitar.

Dig My Heels – Catchy verse vocals, and a really strong chorus. The pedal steel stands out in the chorus and helps transition the song into a soothing spacey post chorus bit that escalates into a heavier ending of the song.

Unwound – The lap steel seems to drive the feeling in this one, but I also enjoyed the guitar playing in this one. The riffs were a combination of heavy hooks with galloping guitars, and mellower verses that had strong singing and melodies. There’s also a little rest period that goes from a lighter jam into a spacey metal country rock section, then eventually comes back to the intro riff.

Long Lost Light – This song is a little more mellow, at least at the beginning, it features fiddle on it, and kind of seems to be more of a ballad. After the second emotional chorus section the song gets heavier, and has the second metal style vocal, and it fits perfectly.

The Turning – The title track epic to summarize the album. It has a nostalgic southern feel with the trumpets and ends on a perfectly suited guitar solo only to reach the final vocals that bring The Turning home.

A lot of the feeling I seemed to get from Bask’s “The Turning” came from the never overpowering yet always present lap steel. The songs are composed of a lot of unusual guitar riffs that have more of a metal than rock tone, which I really appreciated. Zeb Wright’s vocal tone and delivery are powerful and clean, done in a way without any clichés.

Once it’s all over it’s a bit like ending a relationship, where do I go from here? I feel like I need some time to process before I can move on. Ultimately this is a great album that is worthy of staying in the car all summer (if people still did that that is). I’m calling it an album of the year, but I’m not sure I can accurately put it in the same category as some of the metal releases that have come out this year, BASK might rest in its own category. I also think it’s a bit of a different style release for Season of Mist, which goes to prove that they’re not just a metal label but one that’s committed to good music.

What I really like about this album is that it fits any situation, whether driving, making food, listening on the train, with or without other people, it’s a uniquely enjoyable album.