New song online: http://www.metalsucks.net/2014/05/06/exclusive-track-premiere-clouded-panes-son-aurelius/. Something new going on here; kind of unexpected1

Tricky one. I can totally see some fans turning 180° on it but since I loved SoA for their skill of composition I don't really care. That's the fuckin same level!

Edit: few days into it, it's pretty good but the core of what made "The Farthest Reaches" has been buried somewhere.

Wow, was not expecting that. Evocative, intense, technical, melodic, aggressive... with a definite focus on flow. It seems like every riff serves a purpose, either to build momentum or to relax the listener before releasing another assault. It's meticulously crafted and incredibly well-written.

Awful, shoddy ass vocal performance and general over-elaboration contributes heavily to a significant downfall in quality. I wish they'd more songs like The Prison Walls to balance off the album nicely and had shed the excessive mellow parts. 70+ mins of this is a bit too mucho.

Technically great and lots to like in the instrumentation and vocals. However, the huge length and number of songs does make differentiating songs a bit of a challenge on initial listens. I can imagine it's the kind of album to reward repeated listens though.