At just shy of twenty-two minutes long, Gloria, the new EP from Atlanta’s progressive metal behemoths Irist, is a truly outstanding effort. Following up their 2020 debut full-lengther, Order of the Mind, the dense wall of riffs that hits you as the EP lurches into life with the title track is nothing short of perfection. Yes, coming from Atlanta and sharing the same musical waters as Mastodon was always going to land Irist with that label but being spoken about in the same breath as a such game-changing group can never be a bad thing. Thankfully, this five-track effort isn’t just a mere Mastodon rip-off, and as the soothing passages wash over you during “Gloria,” you realize you’re listening to something quite magical. Calming in parts, pummelling in others, Irist has got the blend of both...