Let's take a step back to see what we have here. We have a group of some of the most talented individuals in the metal business thrown together with in my opinion, the BEST lead singer in metal history. The first track on the album already begs for your attention with an extremely catchy guitar riff and riding double bass. I almost punched my head through the wall when I heard it (in a good way). Then WAM you get wacked with Alvestams amazing clean vocals for part of the verse, overlapped with his impressive growls. Pre chorus hits again with Alvestam leading the way and taking you to another world of metal godliness. This is only the first track! The rest of the album can't be this good right?. You are sadly mistaken. In my opinion "The Close Beyond" is one of the more repedative tracks on the album, but it's still that good. If you were a fan of Alvestam Scar Symmetry then you will NOT be disappointed. Now lets move to other shining points of this album. Keyboards are some of the best I've ever heard. They really shined and polished them extensively for this album making the guitar work really stand out over top of them. That being said the guitar and bass work in some areas is slightly repedative, however it all changes whenever the guitarists shred together. Amazing guitarists make amazing solos. The drums are very technical and make some of the album just incredible, especially in the song Clandestinity Now. All in all this album is just down right nasty and should be in any metal heads collection. Some however are not drawn to this particular style of music, which I understand, but you can't hate it until you hear it for you self. For me 5 outta 5. Good job s45!
What's great about it: Catchy riffs, breakdowns, and Alvestams vocals
What's not so great: Repedativeness seems to be an Issue vs Scar Symmetry