Philadelphia's A Life Once Lost have existed on the forward edge of modern metal, where progression and innovation collide with tradition, for over ten years. Their new album Ecstatic Trance sees them raising their patented rhythmic attack to new levels of precision and expression. Huge, jagged riffs and churning, syncopated rhythms set the foundation for the emotive guitar-playing and explosive vocals of founders Doug Sabolick and Bob Meadows respectively. Dark washes of melody and Hammond Organ color epic tracks such as 'Madness Is God,' 'Empty Forms,' 'Something Awful,' and 'The Blues,' and gives bold, raw expression in a way they've not shown before. One of 2012's best metal albums.