At first I was put off by the thought of over an hour of brutal Death Metal, which in my opinion is at its best in doses of around 30 minutes. Fast, brutal and long enough to leave you gasping for breath but short enough to not suffocate you. And well, I was right in my assumptions. This is too long, but that's not all there is to it. The sound is a bit mushy. The first track, which by the way is very atmospheric and calm and filled with different soundscapes, is crystal clear. But with the second track the volume goes down drastically and the rest of the album has to be listened with some notches louder than the opener. The third problem I have with this album is that although it has lots of good and fresh ideas it lacks focus. The brutal onslaught can suddenly be interrupted by a weird guitar riff or something like that. And between the main tracks there are several tracks similar to "Portal To The…". Atmospheric and calm and lots of different soundscapes, but nevertheless just as weird.

Guess the biggest problem of this album is that each song is filled to the brim with different riffs, different melodies, time changes and different ideas. To the untrained ear (such as mine) this just gets too overwhelming. It's like everything and nothing all at once. Way too difficult for me to get the hang of. On the positive side I have to say that this is quite original and fresh. Absolutely something you haven't heard before.

Certainly not for your average Metal fan this is something worth checking out for fans of really weird and spaced-out (brutal) Death Metal. (Online January 14, 2004)