This band's first album was one of my favorite death metal albums to come out in some time. The stakes are high and new a new bassist and vocalists things have changed in their over all sound. We are not going to get into the choir of various singers helping with back up that pulls from every corner of extreme music. The vocals sit differently in the mix this time around. The same can be said for every instrument actually. The bass is a little more buried to give a more blackened sound , rather than the punchy old school trahs influenced death metal sound of the first album. The riffs to the first song still have melody , though the atmosphere is thick and not as hooky.
The second song finds the atmosphere created by the wall of vocals overpowering the guitars. They come back with more groove on "Knife of the Will" which was an early single released. It features sung vocals for what sounds to be the chorus. "In the Mourning Light' works off a different kind of aggression that what was felt on the first album. There are also more Swedish tinged guitar melodies. I think some of it might be that I have to get use to what they are doing here and it might have to grow on me. "Prince Among Shadows" Metallica like guitar solos over a more melancholy doomy riff before speeding up into more effective punchy grooves that recall their more Morbid Angel side. The more cavernous sound they have on this album works better on this song. The sung vocals give it more of a Paradise Lost feel for sure. They do experimenta more with sounds on this album.
There are some powerful chugs on " the Archer & the Noose" but composition is not as focused. I do like the darker throb that moves "To Suffer". It is moody death metal, but straight up death metal all the same. There is more of the melo-death sound going into "Locust Humanity" . They dig into more typical death metal sounds here. The title track closes the album. It is ok but doesn't resonate as strongly with me as some of the other songs. I will give this one a 9. Not as catchy as the first album, but I am going to give more listens , as of this wrting I listened to it three times. Something can be said for me leaving an album on and letting it play so far from a sophomore slump. I think fans of the first album will find plenty to enjoy here as it is darker and heavier.
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