Reviewed by Matt Anderson

From the first note the intensity is high, the drums purr like a cat and the guitars thrash as fast as possible before one's head would fall off. (The ingredients for a great metal album.) This is way heavier and more professional than any of their previous offerings and reminds me much musically of Malevolent Creation and vocally of Sepultura. The best description would be if you blended the first album with the second you would get 'Inhabit'. The lyrical topics range from persecution of the early church ("Breathing Murder") to divisions and battles within the church ("Indwelling"). The album bristles with the unexpected; eg, all of a sudden in the middle of intense rhythms everything will abruptly stop and out will come the acoustic guitars. There are too many high points on the album to mention them all, but the best songs for me were "Not Beneath", "Mind Distant", "Darkened", "In The Shadow", "Departure" and the title track. There is also a good instrumental at the end, joined on to "Departure". It begins with howling wind and (you guessed it) acoustic guitars and a viola. It doesn't stay that way for long, but I'll leave it to you to find out what happens next.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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