Just seven songs?
Back To Times Of... ...overlong and nested tracks?

Anyway, nice to see their Patreon campaign led to a deal with Prophecy. I'm curious about the result.

I certainly want to listen to this

Just listened to it for the first time today. In my mind, this is AOTY hands down. It's definitely a step back towards the style of BTTOS, but it's not BTTOS pt 2, but rather a much darker version. Something in between ALEA and BTTOS. It's more mellow, but explodes at time. Excellent vocal work. I like the production. Instrumentation is stellar, of course, and a story music-wise that draws you in. The only drawback is that I can't see how they are going to follow this up? Maybe this will be their last? Let's hope not!

In my first listen, I would say that The Liberation stands out, but they are all excellent songs. Btw, there is an eighth track called Between. A bonus song for the Patreon supporters.

Written by Kuroboshi on 30.08.2019 at 22:07

Btw, there is an eighth track called Between. A bonus song for the Patreon supporters.

Also an extended version for one of the songs. I have been a Patreon member since the beginning of their journey.

Written by Kuroboshi on 30.08.2019 at 22:07

Just listened to it for the first time today. In my mind, this is AOTY hands down. It's definitely a step back towards the style of BTTOS, but it's not BTTOS pt 2, but rather a much darker version. Something in between ALEA and BTTOS. It's more mellow, but explodes at time. Excellent vocal work. I like the production. Instrumentation is stellar, of course, and a story music-wise that draws you in. The only drawback is that I can't see how they are going to follow this up? Maybe this will be their last? Let's hope not!

In my first listen, I would say that The Liberation stands out, but they are all excellent songs. Btw, there is an eighth track called Between. A bonus song for the Patreon supporters.

Completely agree with you! I'm only struggling a bit with "The Mountain", I guess it may or may not grow on me with time. But the rest is just terrific. The vocals are really great and I'm happy with the production as well.

Back to times of splendour pretty much sums up this album, stylistically and qualitatively.

>Completely agree with you! I'm only struggling a bit with "The Mountain", I guess it may or may not grow on me with time. But the rest is just terrific. The vocals are really great and I'm happy with the production as well.

I love this track. It's either my favorite or second favorite after Wintertide. The horn section in the middle is by far the best part on the album, for me - really beautiful. Really feels like some revelation found in solitude on this mountain. Everything that follows is great as well. The solo.

>it's not BTTOS pt 2

Definitely not. However, I would say it's like chapter 2 in a larger story. There's that callback on the first track that kind of sets this up.

This is how you do a comeback album after 13 years (looking at you, Tool).

With every listen I like it more than before. Love their music. Can't choose a fav song but I love Wintertide, Liberation and Time to Let Go...

"Progressive metal"? Only? Who said that?

Boy have they knocked it out the park on this one. I don't think it'll overtake BTTTOS, but it'll be much closer than I could've expected.

I was a little scared because I didn't know I could expect from this new record, but the truth is it's a very good combination of "Back To Times Of Splendor" and "Gloria"

What a musical journey!!! Instant classic! They are definitely back!!!
And I love that they kept both sides of their genre (prog & metal) unlike some other prog bands that I could name..

What a beautiful and memorable album.

Anyone who rates this <7 is a mo ro

Super. Strangely, at times I hear Woods of Ypres - same sweet rimefrosted sadness that closed "Woods V".

God damn on some further spins this album is fantastic

The passion with which the lead singer sings is the highlight. I seriously haven't heard a melodeath album in so long which had so much creative turns in it. A delight from the beginning to end.

I recently came to the painful realisation that this album had been out for almost two years, and that I had only listened to it a handful of times. Well, that has been remedied by listening to it on repeat for the past few weeks. I think I like it even better than the debut. That's right, blasphemy! sacrilege! heresy! thesaurus.com!

It's just that good. Three monster tracks that take me back to times of splendour, three shorter songs that, like the debut's shorter songs, are quite good. But this album has the better closing track.
What a brilliant way to end the album; Time to Let Go, with its call-back to the debut (shades of long-gone days/light of long-gone days) and rather nostalgic atmosphere, would have been a good closer. But no, that's not the end of the album. Instead, there's The Mountain, which sounds hopeless, a little unhinged, and quite creepy.

Gets better with each spin, Winteride is just amazing.

What a monster of an album. Came here from their 2022 release, cant stop listening to them

To be honest, "The Mountain" is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard. That atmosphere, especially in the mid-section is just unmatched, and it's incredibly original too, not to mention downright unsettling.

The album overall is quite good but my first impression was way better than the next few listens. Maybe once I get familiar with more of the songs it'll get the 9 I assumed it would.

Written by 24emd on 03.01.2024 at 14:03

To be honest, "The Mountain" is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard. That atmosphere, especially in the mid-section is just unmatched, and it's incredibly original too, not to mention downright unsettling.

The album overall is quite good but my first impression was way better than the next few listens. Maybe once I get familiar with more of the songs it'll get the 9 I assumed it would.

It's a great album, but it's one of those cases where the strongest songs (which for me is Wintertide, the title track and The Mountain) stand out a bit too clearly, in a way that raises questions about consistency across the full album. But it's in that 8.5-9 range for me, when it's on it, it's fantastic

Written by musclassia on 03.01.2024 at 15:32

It's a great album, but it's one of those cases where the strongest songs (which for me is Wintertide, the title track and The Mountain) stand out a bit too clearly, in a way that raises questions about consistency across the full album. But it's in that 8.5-9 range for me, when it's on it, it's fantastic

Turns out suspicions were correct and it was just a matter of establishing each deeper cut's identity. Now familiar with each song, there is plenty enough excellent moments to warrant a 9, with the few subtle drawbacks basically insignificant. Well, except "begins a new beginning"... That one I cannot let slide

I'm honestly convinced 2019 was the best year ever in music.

Written by 24emd on 04.01.2024 at 14:59

I'm honestly convinced 2019 was the best year ever in music.

Funny, I think it's possibly the weakest year since I've started listening to metal; it was certainly the least represented in my end-of-decade list. But it did have its highlights, and The Liberation was chief among them

Written by musclassia on 04.01.2024 at 15:07

Funny, I think it's possibly the weakest year since I've started listening to metal; it was certainly the least represented in my end-of-decade list. But it did have its highlights, and The Liberation was chief among them

That is interesting, I've found my tastes to somewhat align with yours the majority of the time, too. Back in 2019 I hadn't started listening to heaps of new music, so I suppose the high amount of green ratings I've given over a small amount of releases should be an indicator. That is, 11 out of like 25