Patagonian Rats

So Tera Melos released Patagonian Rats on the 7th of September, and I feel utterly ambivalent. It's a far cry from Drugs to the Dear Youth, that's for sure. There are some inspirational melodies and interesting meters, but why did they decide to incorporate vocals? It is, of course, not the first time 'Melos have sung, their last couple of releases have contained vocals, but I had high hopes for another instrumental record. They can really play, and they have a great group dynamic, but the vocals are terrible. It is like a progressive Don Cab with a cross between Steve Sostak and Fat Mike up front(absolutely no offence to Sostak, I'm a big 'Johnny fan). It really detracts from the excellent instrumental work. I am not traying to sound like a purist, I am not entirely against the idea of vocalists in math-rock (I have to concede, I completely rate This Town Needs Guns), but please create Drugs.2!
This aside, the band have matured somewhat and created some really rather wonderful motifs. It is tight epic and has a brave amount of reverb. The harmonic nature of the record is reasonably simple, and less jazzy than previous releases. There is nothing groundbreaking here (despite what this review suggests: http://musicremedy.com/t/tera-melos/album/patagonian-rats-8835.html) and I'm unsure what the connection to the south of South America is, maybe they just wanted to share their knowledge of the Patagons, but it is worth a listen. It may prove to appeal to a non-math audience and I wish the band the best of luck. Unfortunately I cannot get over the vocals and as such award this a grade of:

2:2

You can listen to Patagonian Rats here: http://www.last.fm/music/Tera+Melos/Patagonian+Rats