This band is trying really hard, but it's just not grabbing me. This is their second album of Doom/Death with Symphonic keys layered all over it. The recording is ambitious and well done, the performances are solid, and the whole thing has a big, impressive sound that grabs your attention. Unfortunately, the songwriting is not able to hold said attention. The songs are big and expansive, and there are good parts to them, but the compositions don't hold together as songs, without any real build or tension. They tend to plod away until they end. The mix of vocal styles between clean and harsh is another problem, as it shifts without any real reason, and the two styles fight each other and throttle what momentum the songs manage to build. This is well done, but it is mostly just rather dull, and at over an hour, it's a lot of dull.
