I have been doing this for over a decade and have yet to cover these guys, which is not a mistake. Symphonic death metal is not my thing. But this album has a fair amount of hype behind it so I will try it as I do like Dimmu Borgir, and there is common ground sonically. Dimmu is darker, and these guys are more rooted in double bass melodic death metal. These guys have more in common with Night Wish on this album. I can appreciate the effort invested in the songwriting and everything sounds great with a really big epic boom to it. On the first listen the first three songs just kind of ran together for me so had to rewind and give it another listen. "Pendulum" is a more hammering tune, with room for the operatic vocals to breathe, rather than hitting you with all the majesty at once.
"Bloodclock' might as well be Slipknot. There is a decent chug to "At War with My Soul". I like how the vocals sit over it. The growled vocals are pretty straightforward in their delivery, so it's all about where he puts his voice rather than how he gets it there. This album has to be overproduced with everything that is going on. Though the guitar tone could be less machine line and the drums sound like they are triggered and dialed into the chug in post-production at times,. The guitar solos are pretty well done and if you are a teenage metalhead playing guitar, it would make sense to be into these guys.
"Morphine Waltz" does not sound like a single drug was made during its making, thus had for me to buy. 'Matricide" is catchy enough and they put a decent pounding on it. "Per Aspa' chugs past until the chorus swells up with all of its dramatics. Drama sometimes works, as "Till Death Do Us Part' might be the album's best song. The title track is just a piano outro. I will give this album an 8.5, it works off an effective formula that has enough variation to make it interesting, there was one song I really liked the rest was listenable, but if you are a fan of this kind of thing they are giving you what you want.
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