This is by far the bands best produced effort to date as it somewhat breaks the mold of the prior three albums venturing into new and ultimately dull territories.
The production is solid, slightly better than ‘A Murderous Circus’ and brings out the pain and suffering in every note. The guitars are heavy, monstrous and surprisingly epic.
The leads and rhythms are noticeably different from the bands original style all the while staying true to their sound. This is the bands crunchiest CD yet and it doesn’t take away from the long, drawn out dirges that we’re used to.
The bass is ominous and plodding. It follows the guitars a bit too much however. The drums are even more expressive and help to lay a new foundation for what would have otherwise been a tired formula.
The vocals range from clean spoken and sung to Darren’s usual growls/shrieks. The cleans are outstanding as Frank really goes above and beyond his typical mid-range wailing to show us that he does in fact have a surprisingly good high range. Darren uses less of his spoken words and more or less goes for his typical growls.
As the album opens its apparent that this isn’t your typical MB release. The newest addition to the band has certainly added a new dimension. This album, like all their albums, is faster than the last, in saying that, it’s still very much a doom/death album.
This album is more angry with less emphasis on the sorrow. That's not a bad thing but this album does get boring quickly. For all its good points the song writing is very stagnant and really doesn't go anywhere. Had there been better song writing this album could've been their best as their hearts were clearly in the right place when recording this. This isn't some sophomoric attempt at darkness but ultimately falls well below the mark. This gets a 4.5/10. Probably worth it for die hard fans only.
Words: Grimmdoom
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