It's been heralded as the greatest art rock record since My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, and possibly even better. If that's not enough hype to live up to, I'm not sure what is. Mogwai's significant moment thus far in post-rock history has always been their 1997 debut opus, Young Team. The expectation to match a debut as a group's most defining work has often been the straw that broke the camel's back. Incredibly, it seems the Scottish-bred Mogwai have accomplished the near impossible with their fifth release proper, the aptly titled Mr. Beast.

The recordings took place in the groups' newly acquired studio in Glasgow, the Castle of Doom, with production duties handled by Tony Doogan (Mountain Goats, Belle & Sebastian) and Mogwai. Whatever magic was conjured within those walls has transmogrified the great Scots back into the young team of old. Those who accused 2003's Happy Music For Happy People of being a drowsy, overly subdued affair will be happy to know that Mr. Beast is abrim with the potential eardrum damage they so richly deserve.

Like Mogwai's previous work, Mr. Beast is carefully crafted throughout with its lulling instrumentals and swelling guitars that fuse subtle beauty and crushingly loud, shimmering distortion into grace, both harsh and transcendent. The first single, "Friend of the Night" is one of the most intense Mogwai rock epics yet, and smacks of Cave In's 2003 outing, Antenna (that's no insult). On a weirder note, I swear the opener "Auto Rock," one of the only tracks with vocals, was ripped straight from Low's The Great Destroyer sessions. Mogwai's expansion of their sonic horizons on this rock behemoth just might prove to be the zenith of a band who have at last achieved permanent status among the post-rock elite.