It’s amazing how long it takes some bands to follow up a successful debut. What’s so surprising in Miocene’s case, though, is that this is actually their first full-length album.

Since they first came to our attention with 2000’s mini-album, Refining The Theory, which saw comparisons with everyone from Tool to KoRn, via the Deftones, the band have progressed markedly. Two years later, the Cellular Memory EP put Radiohead to shame in the challenging change-of-direction stakes, seeing the band collaborating with DJ Shadow and experimenting further with electronics.

Maybe the lengthy wait for the first album proper is a consequence of musical schizophrenia, or maybe it’s just to build anticipation. If the latter, it’s worked – I’m practically drawling to find out what’s next. Not unpredictably, perhaps, A Perfect Life… seems an attempt to bridge the gap between the band’s two previous releases. Ranging from the heavy, guitar-laden assault of ‘Autopia’, to the trip-hop ‘Apologetic Submissives’ – and sometimes incorporating both within a single, sprawling song.

If there’s one thing wrong, it’s that perhaps the band have been too keen to throw everything, even the kitchen sink, into the mix. Occasionally it’s messy, confused and even veers into the ‘noisy racket’ territory; but then perhaps that’s the intention. It’s certainly a dense, multi-layered record, that joins The Mars Volta in making experimental prog-rock fashionable (or, at least, good) again – though the pretension’s evident just from the song titles: ‘Misogyny vs The Common Rules of Misconception’ or ‘(i) youth (ii) zenith (iii) harvest’ (iv) dissolution’ anyone?

When Miocene first appeared, the UK metal scene was dominated by the likes of One Minute Silence and Kill II This. In the meantime, the likes of Beecher and Twin Zero have demonstrated the more intellectual side of the genre, but this release confirms Miocene are still leagues ahead. Who knows where they’ll end up next, but I’m sure it’ll be an interesting ride.