Though the Black Heart Procession have specialized strictly in baroque expressions of doom-wracked romantic dejection for the past eight years, they have managed to pull an embarrassment of riches from that seemingly limited musical vein. The Spell, their fifth official full-length, is no exception. A loose concept album about the spiritual kinship between romantic delusion and police state paranoia, The Spell will provide familiar pleasures to those who already know the Black Heart Procession’s expert blend of highly allusive lyrical play and eerie sonic textures. While songs like “The Letter” and “The Waiter #5” boast the same elliptical cabaret keyboards and dark Kurt Wiell influenced melodies that characterized the Procession’s early work, the lo-fi murk in which those albums wallowed has long since dispersed, and an array of dazzlingly crisp, Morricone-like sonic vistas have been opened in their place. The Spell may be a reiteration of the Black Heart Procession’s familiar Gothic aesthetic, but the Procession’s new found penchant for studio experimentation ensures that it is a marvelously self-assured and rewarding one.