HUM may have never gotten much mainstream recognition, but you’d never guess their cult status based on the pantheon of groups that list them as an influence. Their huge, earth-shattering brand of space rock influenced groups from Deftones to Hopesfall to Cloakroom to Smashing Pumpkins (who some accuse of getting famous off of HUM’s template).

Most people point to their seminal record You’d Prefer An Astronaut as their finest work. And while they pioneered their trademark sound on that record, their swansong Downward Is Heavenward is a much heavier and more cohesive record.

You’d Prefer An Astronaut had several great tunes throughout its tracklist. The opener “Little Dipper” and breakthrough hit “Stars” are indelible in the space rock canon. But the tracklist takes a bit of a dive around the middle of the record. “The Very Old Man” and “I’d Like Your Hair Long” are fine songs, but they land in a much goofier side of 90s alternative that’s more Weezer than space rock. Not that there’s anything wrong with Weezer—Blue and Pinkerton are perfect albums. But that’s not what I want from HUM.

HUM is at their best when offering bone-crushing walls of noise with Matt Talbott’s calm voice floating lazily in the ether. And Downward Is Heavenward delivers on every front. It takes all of the best parts of You’d Prefer An Astronaut and digs deeper.

“Isle of the Cheetah” opens the record with a bombast of off-time guitar crashes, huge walls of distorted noise, and chugging riffs. The lead single “Comin’ Home” rides a riff that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Melvins record. “Afternoon With the Axlotls,” which includes the lyric that named the title, alternates between emo-esque clean guitar arpeggios and bone-rattling distortion, with an incredible bass riff.

It’s not entirely big, gloomy walls of guitar though. “Ms. Lazarus” is breezy and poppy, save for some massive major chord riffs as the song goes on. It’s easy to draw a comparison to Dinosaur Jr., and I’m not sure the band would disagree. “Apollo” is the lone ballad on the record, but it maintains the sentimental seriousness that colors the rest of the record.

But the real issue at stake here is this vinyl reissue, edited from the original 1/2″ tapes with a razor blade and mastered on completely analog machines by Matt Talbott himself. The end result is as gorgeous a record as you can imagine. The tones are as crisp as if the amps were sitting next to your turntable. The synths and samples buried in the mix are uncrowded by the sound around them. The bass is as warm and heavy as you could ever hope for. It also includes three added B-sides on the final side.

While Downward Is Heavenward failed to recapture the success of “Stars” upon its release (ultimately leading to the group’s breakup. They’re back together now), in the hindsight of twenty-one years, this record is finally finding the acclaim it deserves—especailly if the clamor of these reissues are any indication. I set an alarm to make sure I caught the prerelease date, and not ten minutes after I ordered my copy, they were sold out. But don’t worry: more are on the way.