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Well, this takes me back. Nicodemus' last album "The Supernatural Omnibus" was one of the first promos I ever got when I started writing for this site, and this is the long-awaited follow-up. I liked their old stuff rather well, as it was solidly enjoyable Gothic Metal with some very cool music and some rather bad vocals. But this, their third album, I don't like as well.

Nicodemus have always been about evolution. Their first album was Black Metal, their second was Goth, and this is clearly Prog. Now I liked the somewhat Lovecraftian Gothic themes on the last album, and so I am disappointed to see them vanish. I'm also not happy with the proggy sound in general. The songs are crammed full of a lot of parts, and some of them are cool, but overall this album really sounds like one long song. I really don't see any reason for these tunes to go on for eight or nine minutes, but many of them do. I have to say Chris has really improved his vocals this time out, even if they do sound a bit like Maynard Keenan. There are still some harsh vocals on here, but again, I'm not sure why.

This album seems to have something to say, but is forever getting in the way of what it's saying by how it chooses to say it. I can't really say that Nicodemus sound like any other band, because they really don't, and so they get points for originality. But originality alone cannot sail a band past all evils, and the truth is that I found a lot of this album rather dull. There is interest here for fans of proggy, unusual music, but it is an intellectual kind of interest, so those in search of more visceral delights will want to go elsewhere.