Review by Maverick on December 23, 2025.

In the tradition of Antestor, Horde, Crimson Moonlight, and the broader Christian scene of extreme metal Grave Declaration has offered us something instrumentally compelling, beautiful, but unfortunately slightly cringe. Look, as someone who appreciates bands in both the secular and religious scenes of extreme metal. I find some of the songs to be kinda embarrassing and a bit weird. Let me break it down.

First, this band offers a very respectable offering of symphonic black metal similar in style to Graveworm and maybe even Alghazanth, and possibly even early Dimmu Borgir releases. Songs like 'Change Of Heart' and 'Come, Let Us Speak' utilize compelling orchestral music that blends with very intricate metal riffs. This is complemented by pretty good death growls and black metal shrieks. It alternates between being brutal and then melodic. The uniformity of the album is the one thing I am concerned about, look, Christian black metal is already a concept that has been introduced, but this is where I am unwilling to change my mind -- black metal must be bleak, and deal with existentialist lyrics, not necessarily cartoonish "Satan is my boyfriend" type obscurity, but at least a mindfully compelling consideration of darkness, death, and bleakness. This is where the band sounded like blackened Hillsong, rather than how it did with a heavy black metal mood. Extreme metal cannot be separated from its lyrical ferociousness. This is why this album is so cringe. There is no cohesiveness that would lead me to think this is truly "black metal." I mean, look at one of the songs, 'Hardest Rocking God Of All Time'. The song itself isn't bad in a stylistic metal sense, but it reeks of fundamentalist "Jesus is my boyfriend" type parody. Just because you're a talented musician doesn't mean you have to be sloppy. It does remind me of Alestorm's pretty wacky "pirate metal" fixation, which is pretty much the same thing we have here, except "Hillsong Jesus-pastor dude" is the theme. The lyric themes, and how they pair with the symphony, make this album sound way too happy chappy for an extreme metal release, making it sound more like a parody band, and there's definitely a place for that, but meh, kinda weird and annoying at times.

Second, let's get to the guitars and away from the album's unity and cohesiveness. The album is filled with a compelling array of tremolo picking that rides on the pretty complex stream of symphonies. The symphonies complement and definitely don't overpower the guitar riffs. This, along with the intricately woven palm muting and beautifully delivered power chords. This kind of sounds like an early era Dimmu Borgir album. The broadness and depth of the album are symbolized in 'Reach For the Sky', which stood out to me. In fact, the atmospheric depth of that song did contribute to the compelling depth of the album as a whole.

Third, the drumming was pretty tight, and it didn't lack precision. It sort of reminds me of the same technicality that Iskald's "Revelations Of A Reckoning Day" has, and pretty much the entire Iskald discography. This is part of the reason I couldn't invalidate the album. There's nothing I would say is wrong with the drumming.

Fourth, this is the other thing that annoyed me about this album -- namely, the album cover. It looks like a horror punk type album. I would have never guessed this was black metal. And yes, I know not all black metal albums have the same type of vibe. But it was just a bit cringe for me. And this makes the album feel a bit more cringe.

Look, at the end of the day, this album is musically brilliant. If music were judged solely by instrumental composition, this album could probably be 100%. However, the unity, as I have said before, is a bit strange. This could have been an instrumental album; it would have made the delivery less lame. I guess, if you're an evangelical fundamentalist that wants to listen to black metal that this would scratch the itch then listen to this. But yeah, brilliant music, but rather cringe form factor and unity. By all means, listen to this, but if you want a bleak and existentialist type of bludgeoning that you could get from Cerimonial Sacred, or Crimson Moonlight, then probably don't consider this album.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10