Since forming a dozen or so years ago, A Place to Bury Strangers has created a small catalog that seems like a logical extension of the kind of feedback-laden cacophonies created by The Jesus and Mary Chain, Loop, and the like in the previous century. On albums like 2012’s standout Worship, the Brooklyn-based trio delved into the red, making mini maelstroms of guitar-fuzz fury capable of consuming the listener whole.

With the the years between records reportedly spent refreshing their batteries after an aborted first stab at making this record, APTBS has released full-length number four, Transfixiation (Dead Oceans). While it retains the buzzing cadence of the band’s past glories, the creation difficulties experienced by the group have manifested themselves sonically. The record feels disjointed, as opposed to the unified force of past platters. Though it starts strong with “Supermaster,” “Straight” comes off like a patchwork of effects and ideas, and the transition to the subsequent track, “Love High,” a much stronger cut of post-Loveless phaser swirl, is particularly jarring.

But while the pieces don’t always fit together well, on their own most of these 11 tracks still show APTBS to be pushing the envelope. The six-minute-plus “Deeper” mines a deep groove, with pulses of bass and drums going off like underwater explosions as they accent singer/guitarist Oliver Ackermann’s admonitions of “If you fuck with me, you’re gonna burn.” It’s the record’s most organic moment, building at a slow pace into a gargantuan tidal wave of atmosphere and guitar turbulence. On the other end of the spectrum, “I’m So Clean,” which echoes the JAMC’s “The Living End,” reveals the band going for it with little forethought. Disjointed though it may be, Transfixiation shows A Place to Bury Strangers is still capable of sonic brilliance.