There are a number of interesting elements incorporated in their music such as nice harmonies and aptly placed sweeps. The guitar work though sometimes hits a brick wall since the production does not favour its timbre as much as the band members might've wished for. Their musical themes are not of a directly palpable nature, however there is an identifiable black metal backbone discerned mostly through the melodic parts, which primarily move along minor scales and also on more exotic ones at times. Emperor's vintage effulgence also creeps in, especially at the albums high-speed spurts and also in the clean vocals department. Furthermore, songs often segue into heavier parts with harsh chords progressions accompanied by the characteristic deeper, growling vocals of death metal. At a superficial level the music's nature, as highlighted by this meshing of melancholic melodies with more aggressive forms, can be interpreted as disjunct but as you let the music grow on you, each song's underlying fluidity gradually becomes more elucidated. The only major setback on this particular release is the fact that although variable at the song level, this variability does not extrapolate unto the entire span of the album. Riffs can become a tad predictable after the third or fourth song and so does the musical template that they are using. Additionally with an average length-span of more than 10 minutes per song, some parts can sound overdrawn and in need for a shift in rhythmical pattern.

Aforementioned hindrances aside, this album is as promising as any band could've wished for and like many a fledgling yet worthy outfit there are certain things to improve on as well as having a lot more to be satisfied about.

written by Grimma

Playing time: 65.32