My first introduction to this band was a rather abrupt one. I walked into the venue late, the show was to see Latterman, and as soon as I walked in the door the lead singer of Icollide was convulsing on the floor in his tight flannel shirt and unkempt hair, screaming like a madman while he tied the mic cord around his neck and beat his fists into the floor. Regardless of music, he had my attention.

Turns out, the music wasn't half-bad either. Think Glassjaw, with Hot Cross-esque shredding sprinkled throughout the songs, and that's essentially how you'll come up with the combination that results in Icollide. Their newest effort, Distractions, is full of careening falsetto vocals, knee-jerk screaming, and a pretty impressive variety of chord progressions.

During the most quiet of moments, like the beginning of "Twin Cities Scene Distortion," singer Aryn Schwartz channels the delicacy displayed by the Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler on "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore." The feel of not only this song, but much of the record, is a lot less abrasive than it came off in the live setting; the band instead opts for a great contrast in harshness and delicacy that only gets better as the record progresses. When they do turn up the energy, comparisons to the Mars Volta become even more validated. Not in the sense of frustratingly long ambient passages, however, instead in the guitar playing of Omar Rodriguez.

"Nuances of Rosalyn" is the best song on the record, as it easily maintains a steady equilibrium between the more frenetic and more wistful parts of the track, achieving a balance that is admirable at very least. Much of the song is done instrumentally, but when Schwarz's vocals do come on they have one of two personalities. There's the Bixler-like falsetto, and then there's the Daryl Palumbo-like fits of screaming, and the two have a real tug of war of sorts at various points through the song, making it much more interesting then it may have been otherwise. Closing out the record is a 30-minute track, about 28 minutes of which can be accounted for by the sounds of trains passing and various other, usually quieter noises. The two minutes prior shows the band in their most unstable of lights, Schwartz screaming at full volume, the rest of the band wailing away behind him with reckless abandon, creating some really intense rhythms and speedy riffing.

A much different take here than their live show provided, and for the positive. Extremely varied, but fluid just the same, Icollide have a lot to offer in just 20 minutes of music. Maybe, just maybe, you'll be the one convulsing on the floor.