It took singer/guitarist Ethan Miller and bassist Ben Flashman a good five years to find the right line-up to realize their neo-psych, hard-rockist æsthetic on 2004’s Blue Cathedral (Sub Pop). Oil met water in that album’s mix of everything from the glam and punk, the disco and new wave of the ’70s. But the triumph of Blue Cathedral leaves Avatar feeling like a confused “What do we do now?”, with long, winding songs that suggest Comets on Fire are just happy to have got their foot in the indie door. The murky production seems lazy rather than artful; the hard-rock riffs don’t kick as hard as they’re meant to. And this line-up — Miller and Flashman joined by Six Organs of Admittance guitarist Ben Chasny and the double drum team of Sir Noel VonHarmonson and Utrillo Kushner — has way too much in the way of chops to leave idea-packed tracks like “Dogwood Rust” and “The Swallow’s Eye” meandering in search of a target.
COMETS ON FIRE + MAJOR STARS + TURPENTINE BROTHERS | Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | September 6 | 617.864.EAST