"The open spaces of the upper Midwest might seem like an unlikely metal breeding ground, but the area serves as home for Battlefields, the latest band to throw its hat into the Neurosis/Isis ring. Following up their debut Init Records release, Stained with the Blood of an Empire, Battlefields offers up a one-track EP, Entourage of the Archaic. On paper, the band isn't exactly bringing a new twist to a genre that has been all but beaten into the ground over the course of the last few years. All of the elements are there: intense metal passages, melodic interludes, spacey electronics, etc. But don't be so quick to write off Battlefields as just one more Neur-Isis band.