Being moderately impressed by The Gathering Wilderness, I was curious if Primordial would be able to propel themselves forward and do that little bit more to create a really great album. Although I liked the intriguing atmosphere on Wilderness, the drawn-out compositions at moments repeated themselves quite a bit, losing a lot of momentum on their way. And those vocals do not really help either in keeping the ambience; while possessing a more than decent grunt Mr. Nemtheanga’s other efforts appear on a few songs a bit too ambitious for his capabilities as he seems to be screaming his way through the lyrics instead of singing. Because primordial excels in writing melodies that work well within both the realm of folk and black metal without requiring any far-fetched bridges, I hoped that they would come up with some more forthright elements to create just that extra edge.

Alas, while they absolutely did succeed in making another well-balanced mixture of folk, middle-paced grand riffing and harsh black metal, they did not really stray far from their earlier approach.

With a better production, that disappointingly just strengthens the weaknesses of the vocalist, they essentially repeat themselves and stitch enticing breaks, gallant melodies and epic and engaging riffing together with too many repetitive elements. There are many highlights, like ‘Heathen Tribes’ or a song like ‘Traitor’s Gate’ that is just that more straightforward I needed from this band, but equally many lesser moments that are notably almost always accompanied by the discomforting yelling of the front-man. Nevertheless, given the jubilant appraisal that this record has received I guess that there are quite a bit of people that disagree with me so give it a try by all means.