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Dark Forest produced a solid album with 2011's Dawn of Infinity. It wasn't extraordinary, but it was enjoyable and had some real high points. This time, with a new singer, the band has really dug down and tried to make something epic. The result is not 100% successful, but the effort is impressive, and yields some good music.

There's some stellar guitar work on this album, with involved, well-developed riffs and some good leads. The songs have obviously been worked on quite a bit, and the compositions are polished. The one real weaknesses this band has is that their songs tend to be a bit stodgy and predictable, and they need to tighten things up a bit and get some more energy in there. The other weakness is new vocalist Josh Winnard. He's not that bad, but he's got a weak tone and his pitch is iffy. He doesn't really do much to sell these songs, and his vocal lines are overwrought and pretty cliché Power Metal-styled hooks. Old singer Will Lowry-Scott was not first rate either, but he had a lot more assurance and charisma.

So this is an ambitious album, with some really great riffs but no great songs. The playing and performances are rock-solid, but the whole thing is not as good as it could be due to weak vocals and unexciting vocal lines. I give this band credit for trying, but they are not quite there yet.