Light of the Morning Star : "Nocta"

Pretty excited to wrap my ears around the debut full length by this band whose three song ep really did it for me. It kicks off very much where they left off and then "Coffinwood" shows some variance in that formula, they bang over a more post-rock variation of familiar territory . There is more of a hard rock crunch to what they are doing here , but the vast empty passages of morose creepiness are still in tact.One you are rocked into the upbeat "Serpent Lanterns" you feel like this is with an all too comfortable scope of what these guys do and then I began to wonder if the first ep was so strong because you were a small enough dose so the originality seems more novel .This opened the door to speculation in my mind if these guys could keep up the momentum of an entire album. Things improve on the darker "Grey Carriages". This one allows it self more breathing room.

The baritone vocals are a little lest crooned in a more dramatic murmur. This album feels more overtly metal in it's aggressive drive. I like the  production though the drums are a little dry compare to the rest of the instrumentation, the mix is weird in some places. "Oleander Halo" just doesn't haven't anything that really hook me in until the dreary chorus. The songs have begun to become a little too uniform at this point in the album. This full length has a much more up beat hammering to many of the songs, it works best when that is just on piece of the bigger picture and "Ophidian" really demonstrates this best. The bass provides more of the back bone rather than just sounding like more mainstream rock.

Things get more dismal for "Lord of All Graves". This song is better constructed than the bulk off the album and the vocals have more purpose.  There is a more melodic sense to "Five Point Star" , but it really doesn't go any where, though the sounds it draws upon are pleasing. My expectations were pretty high, so I am not sure what I expected going into this , but I wanted something that hit me with the magnitude of the first ep , But taking this album for what it is, they still deliver something I like but it lacks the wow factor, so I'll give it an 8.