There was a period when metal was most definitely the master of Erik Culp, founder of Toronto's grandly ambient Mind of a Squid.

"I just turned 31, so that kind of gives you a timeline of what period of music I grew up in," the Ontario-raised guitarist says from his Hogtown home. "The real awakening stuff was Black Sabbath's Paranoid , and, even bigger, Metallica's Master of Puppets . When I first heard Metallica in 1986, it blew my mind. I saw them in Buffalo on the ...And Justice for All tour in 1988 and it was incredible. I worshipped that band."

Culp had another obsession, one that made him more progressive than 99.9 percent of the kids in his high school. Although jazz is something most people don't appreciate until their hair falls out, he became hooked on one of the genre's giants in Grade 9.

"I saw a TV special on Miles Davis and I just loved it," he says. "I come from a very small town called Dunville, so I had to go to Hamilton to find his stuff in a record store. When I did, I bought eight Miles Davis tapes in one day. I'm really into his 1966-to-'71 period. Herbie Hancock was also really important to me. You can definitely hear the prog-y influences of early Hancock in what we do: the odd time changes and stuff like that."

The original edition of Mind of a Squid was, in its musical approach at least, more indebted to Miles than Metallica. Culp started the band as an improvisational side project with two members of Canuck post-hardcore band Choke. Although the group's lineup has changed since then, MOAS's debut album, 2003's Down Low , isn't a complete departure from those roots. Tracks such as "E" sound like the work of a band that's comfortable communicating telepathically. Mostly, though, the album contains actual songs, which is what Culp has been writing since hooking up with full-time members Scott Bucsis (bass), singer Marina Adam (vocals), and Blas Melissari (drums).

Standing out in these attention deficit disorder ­geared times, Down Low is all about ambition, the best example being the leadoff tune, "Honky Tonk Blues Part II". Clocking in at a whopping 11-plus minutes, the track kicks off with 120 seconds of what sounds like Gollum sitting drunk at the end of the bar. A rolling bass line, metronomic guitar, and crisp-as-the-dawn drumming then take us just this side of heaven's gate. Subsequent tracks are saturated with ethereal vocals, space-age synths, and tasteful six-string atmospherics.

Although Down Low is best suited for downing hash brownies and contemplating the dark side of the moon, its sprawling tunes aren't likely to lead to a mainstream breakthrough. Culp is all right with that. The strangely hypnotic quality of tracks such as "The Mollusk" and "Doesn't Look Good" seems to keep discerning listeners entertained during Mind of a Squid's live shows.

"When we play, people don't talk," he says simply, which bodes well for the band's show at the Brickyard on Thursday (April 8).

Such attentiveness has the guitarist hoping MOAS will end up with the same kind of following as Montreal's equally ambitious Godspeed You Black Emperor!. If that doesn't work out, he can always target the heshers; discerning mullets will hear enough guitar wizardry in songs like "Seven Suns" to convince them Mind of a Squid is a thinking man's Metallica. Culp, however, says his days of hoisting the devil horns are behind him.

"When I first picked up the guitar at 17, I was obsessed with playing heavy-metal songs note for note," he says. "For instance, I learned every Joe Satriani album. Now I have absolutely no interest in that kind of stuff. Except maybe for Metallica. I can still appreciate Kill 'Em All and Master of Puppets ."