Review by Adam M on March 22, 2026.

This is a good album that builds up on previous releases with a more streamlined sound. Some of the most beautiful music the band has penned comes from this album. There are a good number of great tracks here like “Ariel” that are memorable and have a beautiful quality to them. I think this was probably the last great album of the band as The Optimist is not as interesting.

In terms of musicianship, there are a number of great performances to be found here. The guitars are emotional and make an impact, there is a nice use of keys occasionally and the vocal performance is stellar as usual for the band. The overall effect of the instruments is to make the music as pretty as possible and it succeeds in doing so.

The music here is very memorable, but it still lacks some of the impact that was found on the album Judgement. This makes it less interesting and more of a side show than a great album to stand on its own. There are a couple of other works by the band that surpass it and there is a slightly sour taste left in your mouth because of this.

Overall, I had a great deal of fun with this release and it is one of the more compelling examples of atmospheric music. There are a number of reasons why it succeeds and some of those are because it has emotional depth and a re-playable quality created through quality tracks. The overall effect of the album is uplifting and it is one of the more playable in the band’s discography.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10