David Davidson is best known as guitarist and frontman with balls-out American metal merchants Revocation, but the self-titled debut album from his new band Gargoyl (Season Of Mist) reveals him to be an altogether weirder and more wilful creative force. Pitched somewhere between the wild, angular sci-fi prog metal of Voivod, the harmony drenched blues sludge of Alice In Chains and the scattershot virtuosity of Watchtower, songs like Plastic Nothing and Waltz Dystopia revel in discord and melodic wrongness, with wondrously warped riffs erupting from every atmospheric angle. It’s essential listening for fans of dark and wonky prog metal.