Release Date: October 23rd 2026. Record Label: Church Road Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
Float & Aperture - Tracklist
1 - Breeze
2 - Pedestal
3 - Landslide
4 - Weight
5 - Aros
6 - Accord
7 - Sanguine
Members
Ste Arands - Drums and Percussion
Paul Swarbrick - Guitars
Alex Hurst - Vocals and Guitars
Liam Pendlebury-Green - Bass
Review
Progressive Sludge/Stoner Metallers Boss Keloid awakened from a five year absence with Float & Aperture with the band taking upon an understated delivery compared to their trademark style of music they achieved with their classic last records. Truth be told I thought the band were done and dusted with their last album being released back in 2021. However, Boss Keloid always returns when the musical world needs them most.
Float & Aperture is perhaps their least heavy record yet but still offers a different style of progressive melody with the band channeling the likes of King Crimson, RUSH and Mastodon with TOOL-esque progressive melodies. The sound is quite grounded compared to their landmark 2018 album Melted On The Inch. The album is more personal which allows every member to channel their inner personal thoughts throughout the album without skimping on the Sludge Rock/Metal melodies.
Lead vocalist Alex Hurst is the centre point of everything coming from a highly constructive narrative with some deeply personal lyrics emerging from the very start. Sometimes you want a heavy groove to change the musical direction though that allows Paul Swabrick (Guitars), Ste Arands (Drums and Percussion) and Liam Pendleburry-Green (Bass) to develop their own great musical style to run wild and expand into a classic style of Sludge/Stoner Metal exploration.
Boss Keloid keeps with their stop/start delivery throughout this record that allows their expansive musical attitude to develop within a true experimental approach. There’s a wicked style of Seventies Experimental sound that lends itself to a greater knowledge of creative narrative that fully develops early on between tracks Breeze, Pedestal and Weight that allows Boss Keloid to re-introduce their long terms fans to complex melody that saw the band upped their creative game within their last few albums
When things get heavy and brutally familiar then Boss Keloid are in magnificent form where they prove to the world why they’re one of the most unique bands within the underground Sludge/Stoner Metal scene. Everything feels quite different and superbly restrained but it’s Alex’s vocals which allows the rest of the band to construct a familiar destructive approach from start to finish.
I know some folks will say I’m talking ABSOLUTE BOLLOCKS with this review but Boss Keloid don’t play by the standard rules of Sludge/Stoner Metal and that’s an amazing thing to achieve once more but the guys have always been about a hundred steps of the competition. The way they blend Post-Rock, Psych, Prog, Grunge, Hard Rock and Stadium Rock anthems is simply breathtaking especially within the outstanding tracks of Weighted, Accord and Sanguine that left me thinking - WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST LISTEN TO.
The production values off the scale with Boss Keloid exploring a level of “KITCHEN SINK” drama that allows them to have a refreshingly new grounded approach to their music. The stripped back attitude once again allows BOSS KELOID to demonstrate once again why they’re one of the most important Progressive Rock/Metal bands of our current musical landscape.
This is another simply incredible record from BOSS KELOID who are proving why they're absolute masters of their craft and perhaps influencing future musical generations. Yeah, I said that. The evidence is there for every future musician to discover and expand upon.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Since Always Press for the details.
Float & Aperture is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Church Road Records.
