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I was set to love this from the get go: Christian Alvestam and a gang of esteemed musicians from acts such as Essence of Sorrow, DivineFire, and Miseration. Hell they even had Mikko Harkin do the keyboard parts on the album. We even see the mighty Mikael Stanne contributing lyrics and backing vocals to the fold – it's easy to see why expectations could be set high for the unsuspecting "melodeath" fan. From the surface you could be mistaken in thinking this was indeed good, with spot on production, superb vocals and some damn fan guitar solos. Sadly the songs themselves lack any sort of drawing factor, it's a case of been there, done that, and got the T-shirt.

This is just all too streamlined for my liking, really giving off the feeling of striving for a wider audience. While Christian's vocals may still be pretty damn good he's starting to stick a lot more to his melodic register, I would have much preferred a balance between the aggressive and melodic much like later Scar Symmetry. Another niggling factor with the singing is that if you were a big fan of Scar Symmetry you will have heard the melodies all before. The guitar work whilst impressive in the lead department leaves a fair bit to be desired in the riffage aisles. Sticking to the overtly modern down tuned sound and churning out "modern" riffs, common of acts like Soilwork or Dark Age, and even reminiscent of metalcore in places. Take these factors, add almost zero in the way of bass, coupled with just over an hour run time and it's easy to see this could become quite the chore. Even Mikko Harkin's excellent keyboard skills weren't utilized to their potential, relegated to lame electronics. Oh, they ripped off Evergrey too, "Through Night - Kingdomed Gates" has an almost carbon copy of the riff from "Blinded". Unforgivable, yet unsurprising I'd find the most enjoyment from this track.

Whilst a lot better than the last Dark Age record this still isn't great, at best it's a decent album from a bunch of musicians capable of much better. If super clean watered down Melodic Death Metal is your poison, then get ready to fellate this album and proclaim it a masterpiece – because I assure you you'll love it. For the no bullshit types you know the routine, give this album a wide berth.

Standout Tracks; "Through Night - Kingdomed Gates" "For Aeons Past" & "On Embered Fields Adust".