Grows on you like a parasite.

Nuclear Daisies’ First Taste of Heaven is the musical embodiment of the ‘all or nothing’ mindset. The first song, “Honey In The Wound,” can either be incredibly overwhelming and too much too fast, or it can be a new go-to hype-you-up jam. While the opening track is also the weakest on the album, it does its job of setting a precedent for what one should expect when listening to First Taste of Heaven for the first time.

“Dandelion Wine,” the second track at five minutes long, has eerie vocals that can be scary or excitingly new. The back track doesn’t aid in making this distinction either, with echoey production that bounces from ear to ear. By the time track three rolls around and the same feeling is evoked with a new song, one starts to wonder if this is what the band was going for.

“Toad” is a standout; it’s the first song on the album with lyrics that can be understood. The lead singer has a light, airy tone to their voice that pairs well with the deeper bass and strong percussion elements. The song still has that classic echoed reverb, most prominent right after the last chorus, yet things get switched up within the last 30 seconds. Nuclear Daisies introduces an ethereal, heaven-like tone to the outro that makes listeners feel as if they’re ascending. This blends nicely into the following track, “Untitled,” which serves as a necessary break from the sheer volume of the rest of the album in the form of a minute-long, lyric-less production exploration.

Immediately afterwards, as one may expect, the album shifts back into its brazen loudness, but this time with layered vocals of a bright, feminine voice asking questions to a much deeper, jaded masculine voice. “Infinite Joy” also boasts a perfect name. As the only upbeat song without any sort of clubbing evocation on the album, it brings a happy sense of relief to listeners and leaves behind the hyperspeed of the rest of the album.

The final track, “333,” almost achieves this as well. It’s a near-nine-minute lo-fi study, with, as expected, a multitude of production tricks shoved up its sleeve. Certain parts of it are undeniably interesting and it would provide uncontested background music, but it’d be hard to progress past that status due to its length. A nine-minute song needs to keep things fresh, and although there are distinct differences in multiple parts of the song, there isn’t enough sonic variation to warrant the runtime.

Love it or hate it, Nuclear Daisies knew what they were releasing. An album like this doesn’t happen by accident. It’s undoubtedly cohesive and, although it often finds less-than-ideal ways of expressing it, First Taste of Heaven is creative and, at times, charmingly quirky.