Is there such a thing as alluring doom metal? The Italian instrumental quartet, Lento, delivers that and more on the foursome’s third full-length release, Anxiety Despair Languish. The album combines drubbing beats, overlapping and thick guitar riffs, and surprisingly ambient textures. The 13-track, 40-minute album features dynamic material that melds Mogwai-esque post-rock, moody soundscapes akin to Godspeed You! Black Emperor (without the epic durations) and the new-millennium metal of artists like Baroness. Lento stays focused on its succinct tunes (only one is over four minutes), but mesh doom metal flourishes with coldly lurking pieces such as the brief “Years Later” and the dim portrait “Blackness.” Lento concludes its densely lit record with four linked works, which starts with the speed-metalized “Blind Idiot God” and finishes with the churning “My Utmost for His Highest,” where low distortion, lacerated six-strings and the loud-to-quiet ratio is seamlessly layered.

Grade: B+