Review by Wiley on September 7, 2015.

Ahhh, this band has sold themselves short on their own PR. This is not to say they might not appeal to the black metal, post black metal, atmospheric shoe gazing folks, but that I really don’t feel it stops there. Sure the atmospheres are clearly indicative of where they come from - you have standards like Glorior Belli, Alcest, older Katatonia, and the like, maybe even a little cleaner Neurosis at times. Of course there is something to be said of blast beats over mid paced riffs often going tribal as well, which breaks up the monotony of plowing through the same riffs with slight variation with reckless Melvins-esque abandon (yeah, that’s how I explain that jazz-nuanced break your drummer threw in here and there dammit - cuz WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT COME FROM?? Good on ya brother!!!). Of course the requisite tortured vocals are present and do their job very well, but they aren’t obsessing over any new territory - and that’s okay, the music is holding down that fort really well, somebody has to do the bludgeoning.

They chose a dandy of an opener, because that second track is quite a bit harder to digest. Same nasty guitars but really ludicrous use of dissonance, almost lulling. I am not sure necessarily where this was coming from as quite shortly afterwards we are brought into a nice Sabbath-esque dirge replete with solo and I’m back to thinking about Glorior Belli’s more southern twisted moments. A bit of a strange vocal removal there too with a spoken word bit that tore me out of the zone - think Ihsahn over Spirit Caravan and you’ll kinda get it. Not sure what to think, but thankfully the music keeps the dirge moving and I have very little time to reflect on that one segment. All this tied together with a final instrumental, I think you get where this sits.

Overall what you have is a batch of material that struggles to maintain cohesiveness songwriting wise, but wins out. In other words, this was either a fantastic accident, or the brilliance they are displaying is taking us down an interesting road and they’ve got more coming our way. That being said, if atmospheres and plod are not your favorite dish, you best find another restaurant.

Rating: 7 out of 10