Wow. This truly is a phenomenal CD. Bal Sagoth have luckily stripped away the heavier black and death metal influences that plagued their first CD, and with this release have instead created their own unique style and sound. Concentrating on creating more epic synth sections and melodic guitar riffs, the band have also laid off the black/death vocals (although there still are a great deal of black vocals here) and instead use a tasteful spoken voice to guide the slower sections of the music. The music is what most respectably should be concentrated on though. The instrumental equilibrium here if bloody fantastic, the keyboards make the music *very* epic sounding, while the guitars add either a sombre melodic feel or a powerful, almost military-esque one. At times depressive, at times so very powerful sounding, and at times symphonic beyond your wildest dreams, this CD has gone beyond mere "metal", and can easily be classified as something more. This review is short simply because not much has to be said about the release. It's such an epic mass of metal that it deserves to be checked out by one and all. I'm very happy I pulled it out of the collection and gave it another listen, because if I hadn't, I would have missed a very deep and interesting release.

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