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I listen to albums several times before reviewing them and sometimes that'll either make me like something more than on the first few listens, or it'll have the opposite effect. This is one album that I liked well enough at first, but it lost some points along the way. It's not bad, it just doesn't have the staying power that I look for in an album.

Dark Age of Ruin's black metal is crunchy, heavy enough, fast where it counts and with some dark melodies that I wish they had used more as they have that creepiness that I really like. It has the kind of beat that will get the head banging or at least the foot tapping. I found that the vocal style gets old quick and even gets annoying and I wish the vocals were lower in the mix as they often tend to bury the music and really break the vibe of a song. Tone it down a bit. The album is also kind of repetitive and feels longer than it is and, while I can enjoy it for a while, at some point I wish they had cut two or three songs. Still, I like the overall vibe and I'm hoping the band can come up with something better in the future.