Fans of crafty, challenging rock music who've passed on the opportunity to see 99 Names of God perform (most recently on a number of the Ridglea Theater's great but under-attended progressive rock nights) have truly missed out. Even at relatively low volume, the band's stream-of-consciousness sound, incorporating elements of electronica, can be almost overwhelmingly intense. On Interwoven, the band's first full-length c.d. since 2000's Excursions, 99 Names' sonic palette encompasses stately webs of incandescent guitar fire, edgy electronic grooves, and icy, iconic vocalismo. Their songs flow together like the soundtracks to dreams.

Mastermind Mark Cook coaxes sounds that recall the early-'80s edition of King Crimson from the amazing Warr guitar, an instrument (named for its creator, Mark Warr) that resembles the flight deck of an aircraft carrier -- kind of like a Chapman Stick on steroids. On tracks like "Schemata," "The Logos," and "Obsolence," Cook produces the equivalent of both Robert Fripp's architectonic guitar parts and Tony Levin's undulating bass patterns simultaneously by tapping on the Warr's dozen or so strings. He also does a nice line in synthesizer programming.

Jason Spradlin blends the sounds of his electronic drums with pre-recorded drum loops and percussion samples, sounding at various times like industrial cacophony, a Near Eastern marketplace, or a whole tribe of cybernetic African drummers. And Kris Swenson lays her breathy ice-princess voice atop the swirling vortex of sound. Overall, it's pretty heady stuff, but what else would you expect from an Arlington band whose promo schmatter namechecks William Burroughs and Albert Camus?