The album opens with one of my favorite tracks here, the harsh and relentless 'Awake'. Although deeply rooted in black metal, this song reminds me of Napalm Death's 'Evolved As One'. Both songs breathe a similar atmosphere and thrives on this looming insanity. Then there is 'Emptied', a gut ripping piece of black metal, like Emperor maybe, but weird, complex and unimaginably deranged.
Besides black and death metal, there are some decent slabs of doom, sludge and hardcore to be found here, all of course dressed in this gritty, filthy and piercing sound. some of the songs even push the limits of harsh noise, away from any form of musicality. On other occasions, the whole thing gets a dark, almost gothic edge which is pretty amazing too. 'Still Here' somewhat feels like Tool blasting out some extreme sludge doom, to give you an example of how bizarre this thing really is.
It's long too, over an hour, which gives you plenty of time to scream out your inner demons and outer frustrations. I mean, that's pretty much what this whole album sounds like, an exorcism gone wrong and delivering massive amounts of agony to everyone involved. By the time the track 'Life Of The Mind' starts, this album will probably have you on your knees, crying, shouting and hair pulling.
Who to recommend this too? Well, obviously to all extreme metal fans out there. Although there are few blast beats driven passages, this full-length has the same power, the same intensity as most of your favorite black, death and grindcore records, if not more. Other people, beware, if you are not very acquainted with stuff like this, this album will undoubtedly make you end up in a mental institution and it'll all be your own damn fault...
​Serge