This was apparently originally set to be a Lurker of Challice recording, another project of Wrest's, but instead it was turned into what was intended to be the final Leviathan album. Wrest was in a very dark place at this point in time, having suffered the death of his girlfriend and his own suicide attempt at the same time. These dark emotions bleed through into the music on this release. While it is still an aggressive form of black metal, there is a painful sadness and somber tone that manages to leak through all the while.
I have discussed Wrest's musical abilities at length in the previous posts, so I am not going to rehash that here. Suffice to say that this is a different-sounding album than some of the previous ones, but it is devastating in its own way and the musicianship remains top-notch. The one issue that I have is that the vocals are significantly different. They are buried lower in the mix and are more of a deep-throated roar than the raspy vocals on the previous albums. It is a different take on black metal vocals that comes across significantly different than what Wrest has done before.
If there is a downside to this album, it is that the second half is a little slow. That seems to be a bit of a thing with Leviathan, as I had the same complaint with Tentacles of Whorror. Much of the second half also tends to run together a bit, with a lot of tracks that generally sound the same.
After a couple of lackluster releases, Leviathan came back in a big way with this release. It does not rise to the level of the first two Leviathan releases, but it is significantly better than A Silhouette in Splinters and Howl Mockery at the Cross. I will also say Scar Sighted is better than this one as well, but it is a little closer.
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