Meliora (Deluxe Edition)

Meliora is a hulking cathedral of sound built from doom metal, ’70s rock and the kind of creepy soundtrack music heard in satanic B movies. On top of that, it agilely balances pop smarts with crunchy power. While “Cirice” weaves hummable harmonies around bedrock-rumbling riffs, “From the Pinnace to the Pit” tethers baroque melodicism to viciously stomping beats. The sinister outfit goes for broke on the uplifting ballad “He Is”, which, upon closer inspection, is a devotional to Lucifer himself.