Review by Adam M on May 24, 2025.

This album is very important to female fronted metal with its dark atmosphere and melancholic moods. There are songs like “Heaven’s a Lie" that are among the best of the band and really make this a standout recording. The singing of Christina Scabbia is perhaps revolutionary for the genre and a highpoint on here. This is a dark recording and that is what makes it appealing.

The musical performances are solid with catchy guitar playing, solid drumming and a nice mixture of male vocals to go along with the female ones. The entire affair is reasonably potent as the production values are merely adequate. This is still one of the more well-conceived and executed female fronted metal albums musically.

If there is a flaw to be fond here, it’s in how the band does not surpass the other greats at the style like The Gathering’s How to Measure a Planet. It does not have the purity of that particular album, but it carves its own nice regardless. This is not the greatest album ever, but it is a solid attempt at a darker and still yet pretty offering.

All in all, this is a relatively strong album of dark alternative metal that set a standard for the genre. It is still a bit mainstream sounding and nit perfect. It is a moody album that has its highpoints and very important for metal it is still simply a very good album and could be highly improved upon.

Rating: 7.5/10