How can anything that used to be so beautiful turn this boring? Their "A portrait of life" style was so beautiful and great.. How could they turn into such a "shreddy" style? I love PoL so much, I'm learning their GPXs, this album is so boring, just guitarists showing off with some synth things. Maybe more progressive, but more boring. I'm not giving 2, because term "pure shit" is not fair against the band, who worked their ass off to make this, but still, for me it's probably letdown of the year unfortunately.

I hear the melodeath, and this album does have strong symphonic elements, but it completely subverts the generic sympho-death, tropes, leaning more towards extreme-prog. In fact, without the harsh vocals, I'd consider this simply a prog album.

Anyway, incredible album. Great genre-bending and diverse melodies, as well as excellent clean vocals.
Highlights: "The Lighthouse Keeper" is very euphoric throughout, "Architecture Of Life" is a lengthier track with some amazing folky melodies, "Involution" has a groovy AF funk section in the middle, and "In A Sea Of Mist" is an acoustic track with some unique structuring and some surprising technicality (for an acoustic track). Oh and "Enhancement Through Change" is just perfect - that final chorus...

Overall, great surprise. No weak songs, and many more highlights than what I stated above.