It's laughably common for punk bands to evolve into metal bands, so leave it to Hebosagil to decimate that cliché by doing the reverse. Sort of. Even during their formative stages as sludge- and doom-obsessed teenagers, these cerebral brutes from Oulu, Finland, were not exactly a bunch of unwashed, garden-variety headbangers. Nor did they later adopt stripped-down hardcore mannerisms in some simplistic attempt at titillating boot-wearing nostalgists. Their 13-year history is less about stylistic changes and more about a shedding of youthful influences, a sharpening of knives, and a trimming of fat to reveal a steel-reinforced nucleus of sinewy, noise-dripping aggro-rock that defies easy pigeonholing.