We’ve been following Akron, OH instrumentalists If These Trees Could Talk for a very long time — since 2009, which in blog years is basically like 78,000 eons. It gave us great pleasure when the band signed with Science of Silence Records — we premiered their 2012 album Red Forest on that label — and it brings us even greater to joy to see the band move up to the big leagues now with Metal Blade. We’re getting all weepy just thinking about how far these guys have come.

Best of all, the music If These Trees Could Talk are putting out now is some of the finest they’ve ever written. The instrumental / atmospheric / post-whatever metal scene has exploded since 2009 — thanks in large part to them — so what do the originators up and do? Change the fucking game. “Berlin” doesn’t stray too far from the band’s core sound — it’s still instrumental, it’s still atmospheric, it’s still loosely based in metal and it still rocks — but the band has dropped some of the post-isms that have become cliche in the wake of their success. The result is a track that rocks and grooves and pulsates with life, has a memorable melody and some killer lead and rhythm guitar work. And it stands far ahead of the pack. Listen below.

The Bones of a Dying World drops June 3 via Metal Blade. You can pre-order it here. Check out another song from the album called “Earth Crawler.”