The epic-length songs His Name Is Alive explored on Tecuciztecatl felt like a creative rebirth, one that they build on with Patterns of Light.

Where their vampire rock opera was indebted to '70s prog, this time the band goes all in on vintage metal, and the barreling riffs and drums on songs like "Black Wings" are a thrill to hear.

However, anyone surprised by how convincingly heavy His Name Is Alive are here hasn't been paying attention.

Formidable guitars have been a fixture of their music since Home Is in Your Head, while their cover of Rainbow's "Man on the Silver Mountain" and Ft.

Lake's Hendrix homage "Wishing Ring" hinted at an enduring affection for rock that's anything but ethereal.

With their guitar prowess fully unleashed, the effect is like staring into the sun -- or maybe more accurately, a field of energy: Patterns of Light's inspiration came from the band's performance at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.

Particle physics isn't quite as supernatural a subject as Tecuciztecatl's vampires, but science at this level has enough mystery to place it closer to the mystical, spiritual realms where His Name Is Alive reside.

And though electronic music might seem like a more logical medium for expressing scientific progress, Patterns of Light's psychedelic metal captures the visceral excitement of discovery.

Like the band's previous album, this one begins with a jaw-dropping statement of purpose.

The title track starts as an invocation as witchy as anything on Tecuciztecatl before locking into swift thrash that, thanks to its dizzyingly fast solos, reaches cosmic proportions.

From there, the album's tracks flow into each other with a momentum befitting songs sparked by the Large Hadron Collider, while "Energy Acceleration" could cause black holes in its own right.

Of course, Patterns of Light also includes the gorgeous vocals that have defined His Name Is Alive's music for decades.

Combined with those towering riffs, they create an interplay of light and dark, angelic and sinister that fits the album's title perfectly.

"Last time I checked, your blood was still black," Andrea Morici sings on "Demonmix" over unholy organ and squealing solos, then counters the forces of darkness with her silvery tones on "Calling All Believers" and "You Best Pray." As things draw to a close, the band moves toward more expected territory -- if there can be such a thing on a His Name Is Alive album -- but "Dragon Down"'s acoustic guitar and strings provide a hypnotic simplicity balancing the virtuosic moments that came before.

When Morici implores a scientist to "turn the machine on" again on the gliding finale "Silver Arc Curving in the Magnetic Field," the feeling is understandable: Patterns of Light is another huge, heavy, and beautiful album that suggests this incarnation of His Name Is Alive is one of their finest.