The imagery of this mask wearing trio can be a bit of distraction. These Swedes do have a very dedicated following, but then again so does Insane Clown Posse, so I am giving this album a shot to see what is with the hype.I do like the fact that they are very dense, dark and heavy. The vocals seem to benefit from the moments effects are drenching them. They are a blackened gurgle that reminds me of the demon voice King Diamond does on "Them". There is not much power put behind them.It's not a deal breaker on the first song, but I can see this being a problem if this is all this guy has got. I do like the industrial elements and how big and chaotic things are. I had already hear "the End is Mine to Ride" going into this so there was not much in the way of surprises here. Upon a second listen the vocals are still this song's biggest problem. After a dark noise interlude comes the next proper song "Where Shadows Have Teeth" these guys are like a creepier version of Behemoth covering Skinny Puppy. Unlike Behemoth the pay off never really gives you the releases though reaching the destination of heavy.
"Exuvia" offers a little more of a groove and plenty of weird atmosphere. The bring more metal to the party with "Fire Dances". This is a little more of a payoff, but is rides the line when it comes to obscuring it in almost too many atmospheric noises, to the point of sounding like if Boris re-mixed an Emperor album.It's also hard to tell if they vocals improved on this one or not.Some of the fat could have been trimmed on this one. While I can appreciate not using dynamics in a predictable fashion the lack of developing things like long droned out sections into anything after extended sections of working off the tension, is a waste. I'll round this down to a 7, it's more the internet hype of their fan base, making them the thinking mans Jugglos. 3.9
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