After releasing two independent EPs since The Myriad's Seattle-based inception in 2001, their debut full-length 'You Can't Trust A Ladder' was released by Floodgate Records. With Aaron Marsh of Copeland as engineering and producing the album, the final result is a set of mood-heavy songs.

I remember hearing that The Myriad would be playing the New Band Showcase at Cornerstone 2004. Having heard some of their music, I figured it would be worth my time checking them out. Either I misread the schedule, or someone decided to change the order last minute, but I just missed their set. In consolation, I decided that I would pick up their music. Upon repeated listens after returning home from the 4-day sweltering dust-pit of music, I found both EPs to be musically clever, but it seemed to lack power and flow. I guess any EPs are susceptible of coming off as choppy and mis-concocted. When I heard that The Myriad was jumping on board with Floodgate for their first full-length, my hopes for The Myriad flared up. Not that Floodgate re-makes bands to be better than they are, but they do their bands justice.

The Myriad covers most of what's popular in the UK right now. Obvious comparisons will be drawn to Radiohead and Muse, but The Myriad don't stop at that. From the cloudy, intense choruses in 'When Fire Falls' and 'Godray' and the dance-intrinsic flare of 'Perfect Obligation' and 'Tethered,' to slower hook-laden pop songs like 'The Last Time' and 'A New Language,' this band covers much ground in only 11 tracks. The strongest tracks are distributed evenly throughout the album and make it worth it's entire listen. One of my favorite songs is the stripped down and earnest 'A New Language,' where singer Jeremy Edwardson sings about finding hope to keep holding on. Another favorite, 'We Will Be Disappointed Together' was previously released on an EP, but was completely reworked for this album. The song sounds better in it's reincarnation and is very effective as an album closer.

The artwork consists of diagrams of body organs and unreadable strings of text. It looks nice, but is pretty over-done by now. It'd be neat of the text was actually meant to be deciphered into a secret message or something, but it's seemingly not. Even so, the booklet is decently thick and contains cards with the lyrics on it, rather than simply pages.

The Myriads first and promising album, in combination with their relentless tour schedule is gonna be turning heads in the future. Having already recorded demos for their next album, you'll be hearing more of The Myriad soon enough.

Rating: 4.5/5