Uneven ambient metal. Some aspects and songs work, others, not so much. The whole growly death metal/grindcore grunting does not work well with atmospheric and moody music of the opener “Din of Consciousness.” Granted, Lurker of Chalice, with his ambient black metal and vocals that are typical of that genre worked quite well, but instances of that are very few and very far between. The growly vocals in the abyss on “Riddle with Fear and Doubt” comes off better, and that’s probably due to the faster tempo and more straight forward approach in the song composition. There’s a change up riff, akin to something like what Tragedy would do, in the middle of the song that’s pretty damn good that eventually gives way to the colder, repetitive black metal guitar riff. The title track opens with some great music that would fit perfectly in a late 1970s/early 1980s horror film. It’s a combination of foreboding doom, yet is hopeful. The music picks up pace, goes into full-on death metal style, then switches mood here and there with some post-rock meandering bridges. The vocals work okay, but they also step all over the music at the same time. There’s a part where the song begins to build tempo after the bridge, and as it starts the vocals come in growl over the music, dampening any strength that is being generated. Might work wonders to sometimes step back and let the music do its thing.
–M.Avrg (1859, 1859records.storenvy.com)