The question I have to ask when I go into any death metal album is What is going to set these guys apart? It's a valid question, as far too many of the bands conform too closely to the parameters of the genre and leave themselves little room to grow into a unique musical entity. These guys fall closer to the Incantation school of the genre, with slower, purposeful riffs that are capable of having the double bass turn them into a more rapidly moving current of riffage flowing downhill. They do speed up into more feral sections, but do not stay there too long.
The problem is the second song rages to life, then does little to distinguish itself from the previous song in fact, that is a problem that plagues this album, as all the songs sound the same by the time we get to "Ammonian Baths' is the fact if it was not pouring on the speed it would just sound like everything else and the formula they are using goes stale fast as it sticks to true to the formula. Differing guitar tones, effects on the vocals, anything to offer more nuance and texture. Instead, the vocals might sustain a roar here or there, but are the same old, same old.
This is almost the same problem I have with reggae: that everything sounds the same. I have had friends bring up death metal as a countrpoint to this, to which I reply bands like Morbid Angel, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, and Deicide are all from the same era and scene, but have distinct sounds. Even different feels to each album. But that is because they are the top tier.The last song does take some dynamic shifts, by dropping things down to the lingering bass line, and allowing the guitar to solo over, but i am not going to listen to this song repeatedly for those things.For this reason, I will give this album a 7, they are good at what they do what they do is limited and has been done before.
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