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Seventh full-length for Forefather, third since they started releasing stuff on their own Seven Kingdoms label. Their best work was, and remains 2008's Steadfast, and the follow-up, Last of the Line, did not remotely measure up. Now we have this, and it is a step back toward greatness, even if it's not there.

My complaint about their last one was that it was too slow, not as heavy, and lacked the superlative riffs of Steadfast. This one has the same problems, but not to nearly the same degree. This album mostly lacks the punching speed of that album, and the production is not as heavy, but it has a lot of good riffs, and even kicks up the pace here and there as on the blistering "By My Lord I Will Lie". The title track is good, if slow, and "Painted with Blood" gets some energy going, but too much of this just sounds too laid back. If you are not going to play fast, then I want you to play heavy as fuck and have killer riffs, but Forefather still seem to be running at about half strength.