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Welcome back, Elder. After an all too long hiatus as a band member was overseas, New England's premier doom trio has returned with their new record, a five track full-length, cryptically entitled Dead Roots Stirring. This entire album has the feeling of release. It's as if these songs were bottled in the mind of each musician as there were an ocean apart. Opening up with "Gemini," repeating the lyrics "I'm coming home," Elder's mounting pressure of inspiration is let go on Dead Roots Stirring.

This is wandering stoner doom, the type that can both lose your interest and captivate, depending on where you are in each song. The tracks are structured in drawn out landscapes, often repeating riffs for seemingly inordinate amounts of time, but coming back to either a main theme or shifting into a new area. While this may seem peculiar and poorly executed, Elder do it in a way that often evokes a sumptuous beauty. Even as the listener's focus may wane, the songs bring on a feeling of calm. Imagine a lighter version of Electric Wizard's expansive music, one that meanders into many different territories, yet retains a similar theme throughout each song. Sometimes it's comforting; sometimes it's morose, but they're almost always able to connect their songs through a common emotion.

That said, Elder sometimes sound like the doom metal equivalent of a rambling professor who just can't get his point across, or reemphasizes his point until it has no meaning. Some of these songs just drag and veer off into territory they shouldn't be in, making that aforementioned theme nebulous and blurred. Dead Roots Stirring is a strong release from a very promising and young doom act, but this is one thing that Elder will need to work on.