Trap Them's Seance Prime EP came quickly on the heels of their solid 2007 full-length, Sleepwell Deconstructor. While their debut for Deathwish finds the band taking a more consistent approach, Seance Prime no doubt finds Trap Them refocusing and tightening their sound for a no less intense and raging coating.

Perhaps more in line with the metallic and crust-laden hardcore of labelmates Rise and Fall (and, subtly, Converge), Seance Prime bears the same throbbing, pulsating and smothering production flair as Sleepwell Deconstructor, as the band once again worked with Kurt Ballou. But with an even filthier low end and the aforementioned slight retooling of their style, Trap Them are hardly rehashing themselves -- and considering the releases only came a few months apart, it probably would've been permissible anyway. Since the band sound all the better for it anyway, it's welcomed.

The middle section features some of the EP's best moments: the huge, skyscraper-level drops of start-stops gurgle in "Day Fourteen -- Pulse Mavens"; the time-shifting grind tones of "Day Fifteen -- Citizenilhist"; and the constant, throttling mid-tempo pounding of "Day Sixteen -- The Iconflict." To boot, the band's lyrics are as good, ugly and haunting as ever -- take the hip-hop zeal of "Citizenihilist"'s opening lines: "Get them propped and boxed, and fixed on forced remarks...On a haggard glimpse, on a primal blitz."

Seance Prime is a bit of a step up from its predecessor, and if they improve half this much for the next full-length Trap Them will easily be one of Deathwish's best -- if the case couldn't already be made, of course.

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Day Fourteen -- Pulse Mavens