It's not a favorite but the album is quite consistent, there is no moment where it loses power. A small mention to the track "In Search Of The Triumph Beyond... (Obsidian Overture)" which opens the album, it's the best in my opinion, I was immediately hooked.

Their last offering was pretty decent but took an awful lot to digest, so I suspect that'll be the case here too. This is my kinda cover-art too.

What a masterpiece. Impeccable songwriting, otherworldly musicianship, amazing riffage and passages, brilliant solos and bass playing all jammed in a great journey of an album. Beautiful, hunting theatrical, this story captures your emotions. Do not be fooled by the black metal label. This is mostly progressive Metal with a mask of black on it. Like the combination of Opeth and Persefone but if their music was more towards black metal than death metal.
Nothing short of a perfect album

Reminds me of Beyond Creation, Stortregn, and Burial In The Sky, but more black metal. This definitely needs the tech death tag.

I had high hopes for this album because their flair or black metal – while not unique – was engrossing, if a little unpolished in the debut. The shift to focus far more on the tech death aspects of their sound was a mistake – it’s certainly not their forte and it shows. Tech death needs a specific affinity for melody and timing, both of which are completely lacking here.

On a less prominent note: those clean vocals are particularly rough; not something I noticed in the debut. The choice of notes doesn’t complement the music at all…much like NeO (another unpopular opinion, I know).

It’s a shame they didn’t realise that potential in the debut, but a sophomore is always a hard follow up. I think I’m in the minority though because it’s clearly well received. It’s a decent album which flows pretty well, just marred by odd choices.

Written by LeKiwi on 05.04.2025 at 14:42

Reminds me of Beyond Creation, Stortregn, and Burial In The Sky, but more black metal. This definitely needs the tech death tag.

I had high hopes for this album because their flair or black metal – while not unique – was engrossing, if a little unpolished in the debut. The shift to focus far more on the tech death aspects of their sound was a mistake – it’s certainly not their forte and it shows. Tech death needs a specific affinity for melody and timing, both of which are completely lacking here.

On a less prominent note: those clean vocals are particularly rough; not something I noticed in the debut. The choice of notes doesn’t complement the music at all…much like NeO (another unpopular opinion, I know).

It’s a shame they didn’t realise that potential in the debut, but a sophomore is always a hard follow up. I think I’m in the minority though because it’s clearly well received. It’s a decent album which flows pretty well, just marred by odd choices.

Agreed on the tech-death, have updated the styles to add it for this album and the ddebut.

As for the rest, again I broadly agree (aside from NeO, who I find the clean vocals fit perfectly for). I was hoping for a slight shift on this album from the debut, at least in terms of album dynamics, as the debut was a bit too relentlessly at 100% for so much of the runtime, it tended to become exhausting, and having more ups and downs from the tech/prog-death was welcome. However, the way it's implemented here has been inconsistent for me in terms of enjoyment; there's a lot of moments that I enjoy (and the solos continue to steal the show for me, as with on the debut), but there's also more of it where I'm not as engaged as I'd like to be. And yeah, the clean vocals on I think track 3 sound quite off (they feel more competent on other songs).

I held off on giving a rating to my review, because I feel like my opinion on this album could vary quite a lot with further listening - it might start to all click with me with increased exposure, or the current gripes I have with the lack of memorability and fluidity between sections within songs could drag it down further to a 7 or a 6.

Written by musclassia on 05.04.2025 at 16:26

I was hoping for a slight shift on this album from the debut, at least in terms of album dynamics, as the debut was a bit too relentlessly at 100% for so much of the runtime, it tended to become exhausting, and having more ups and downs from the tech/prog-death was welcome.

I totally agree; that was one of the reasons I didn't rate the debut higher.

Quite a lengthy and structurally complex album much like their previous effort was, but I'm definitely preferring this one overall.

Like a long trek up a mountain, this one is a JOURNEY, both in length and trajectory. Had I known about the run time ahead of time, I would've prepared myself a bit more, but the album has very few lulls or uninteresting moments. A killer album that'll pair nicely with Allegaeon's latest release.

The solos are very very well written. But they are too short and is far superior to the other progressive things going on in the album. Favourite song: Halcyon Memory: Dreamscapes Across The Blue.

Their slightly off-key sound is off-putting (pun intended).
I can't really describe it but it sounds like I'm listening to them through a closed door or something.
I love it when the drums speed up out of nowhere but they don't go anywhere with it. It just goes back to the previous tempo with no actual pay off.
I find it tedious listening to them. They had a lot of mediocre and some good ideas but they didn't know what to do with them. The bass solo in In this empty space is a great example of "let's put that in there and see what happens".