Album review: REZN - Cycles In The Infinite Dream

There are few things more pleasing and fulfilling as a music fan than finding a band that is consistent. A band that has years of material that is all delivered to an exceptional standard, and all comes together into a career tapestry that is wondrous to behold. A band that knows what they’re about and what they want to do. Such is the case for REZN.

The Chicago quartet have been on a dream run since their 2017 debut Let It Burn, barely putting a foot wrong across five albums that are as gargantuan in their scope and settings as they are in their sonics. But now, on Cycles In The Infinite Dream, that consistency stands to be their biggest obstacle.

Let’s get one thing straight: this is a fantastic album. Gorgeously crafted and produced, there’s nary a better-sounding band in the psychedelic doom landscape. The slow burn of Aerial Birth is intoxicating and the band’s use of saxophone and lap steel guitar is done so with enough restraint that it doesn't just feel like a gimmick. The sweeping rushes of opener Rites of Passage, the crushing heft of Primal Thread’s closing third, and Rob McWilliams’ dreamiest, most shoegazey vocal performance to date all land with the grace and accomplishment that is to be expected from REZN.

But such is the pedigree of their previous works that Cycles In The Infinite Dream winds up languishing. It's missing the thick atmosphere of 2024’s Burden, the genre-defining highs of 2020’s Chaotic Divine, even the textures and journey of their debut record.

By anyone else’s standards, this would be a great album - and as a standalone piece of work, it does contain greatness - but REZN isn't just anyone else, and with their staggering consistency, they've created a rod for their own backs that makes Cycles In The Infinite Dream fall comparatively flat.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Elder, Elephant Tree, Psychonaut

Cycles In The Infinite Dream is released on July 24 via Sargent House