Jesu has just about every base covered: Heavy, sludgy guitars. Spaced-out, progressive dynamics. Classic, shimmering shoegazer distortion. Alt-pop melodies. It's as if Justin Broadrick and company boiled down the best parts of your record collection, distilled them and concocted a strange, new brew. It's the sort of pedigree that'll either set Jesu up to be the next rock'n'roll savior or a too-complicated cult act whose sophistication's only appreciated by the musical literate.

The aptly named Conqueror brings Broadrick -- a veteran of Napalm Death and GodFlesh -- farther up the aural bracket, polishing and perfecting the band's blend of the heavy, the brainy and the melodic. Sounding like Kevin Shields leading a Hum tribute outfit, Conqueror has heft without the inherent stupidity commonplace in heavy music, introspection without the simpering depression that usually comes with it and ear-shearing melodies galore without getting too soft.

Although heavy, Conqueror finds Jesu contemplating density rather than mere weight; sure, it's often to confuse Jesu's tightly packed arrangements' compact mass for mere heft -- and, by the nature of musical physics there is a lot of weight behind Jesu -- but Jesu's a treat best dissected by a pair of patient ears with the aid of headphones and several repeated listens. "Weightless and Horizontal" rockets overblown distortion into deep space, as Broadrick's vocals float through nebulous wisps of atmospheric noise and expanded-consciousness space-rock dynamics. "Old Year" and "Transfigure" are ostensibly a little more grounded, as Jesu checks the earthly drones of Hum and The Smashing Pumpkins against the overlapping, intricate arrangements that hide piles of guitar, ambient noises and slowly unfurling arrangements from your ears on first listen. Other tracks, like "Mother Earth" with its peals of cymbals and droning background noises, don't even come off as remarkably compact upon first listen; it's only after dissecting Jesu's craftsmanship that you'll realize how orchestrated they are.

And while it's not too uncommon for a band to pack as many sonic elements into the mix as Jesu does on Conqueror, the sheer depth from which it draws is staggering. Broadrick isn't content to stay put straddling a couple genres, or even craft a hybrid sound. He shoots off into uncharted corners of the musical universe, inventing whatever he needs. It's a bold move forward for Jesu, one that's destined to be met with either universal acclaim or nearly constant confusion. No matter how the world at large takes Jesu, put Conqueror on your list of the season's best albums.