After an early life as one of the quintessential 4AD bands, His Name Is Alive has taken a dizzying amount of musical twists and turns over the past 24 years. The only constant has been founding member, guitarist Warren Defever, who has reshaped and recast the band in a multitude of ways on a staggering 58 releases—some self-released, others through labels. So the fact that that the band’s latest studio album, Tecuciztecatl (The London London Company), is a concept record about a pair of unborn twin babies, one of which is evil, seems like par for the course. After all, Defever preceded the record with a supercut of 100 Thin Lizzy guitar solos from 1971 to 1983.

The challenge of concept albums is the tracks have to simultaneously hang together as a complete work, but also work as standalone pieces. Is the concept clear from simply listening to the songs? Or does it fall into complete gibberish outside of the concept? Thankfully, Tecuciztecatl is the rare record that works on both levels. It’s to the credit of the band—Andrea Morici on vocals, bass synthesizer, and mellotron; Dusty Jones on guitar, bass, and talkbox; and drummer J. Rowe— who join Defever in keeping things nimble. Musically, the album’s one step away from being a series of smash cuts in the way the band has the habit of jumping from one style to the next. For example, in the 13-minute opener, “The Examination,” the band slides from an icy gothic synth movement into a moment that seems to cross the Monkees with the Dave Clark Five and a heavy dose of Stereolab, but with Thin Lizzy guitars. Then it slams into a Southern rock boogie breakdown before going into an ethereal chorus and eventually ending on a madrigal note. It’s an insane showstopper. And while no other songs quite take that many jumps, the band isn’t afraid to change directions at any moment.

Lyrically, Tecuciztecatl is a bit more straightforward. Defever takes a narrative approach that doesn’t really try to be too abstract. It seems fitting that the album was released so close to Halloween as it features some goth undertones. Fortunately, the album is not so lyric heavy that it feels like an audiobook set to music, but the lyrics are given extra prominence. However, chances are the story will slip in and out of focus for most listeners, not as a failure of the construction, but just because the performances are so on point that it’s easy to get caught up in what’s going on musically. It’s a push and pull that lets the story breathe and keeps things moving. It’s a fairly neat trick and Tecuciztecatl is a remarkable high point for a catalog as wide and varied as that of His Name Is Alive.