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Atra Hora are an odd band in that they don't seem to be able to settle on a genre, and a lot of ink about them struggles to describe quite what they are. This is not because they are especially innovative, but just because they are not really strongly any one thing. This is their second album, and while it is not amazing, it is not bad either.

Atra Hora generally play a kind of studious melodeath style of music. Their vocals are harsh, and they stay generally in the more conventional end of the melodic pool. Some of their riffing is strongly tinged with Middle Eastern sounds and scales, and these parts are often startlingly good. The problem is you have to slog through a lot of fairly tedious cranking to get to them. If they integrated the Mideast sounds more thoroughly, then they could produce a really original sound, or at least more so. Instead they switch from one to the other, and it makes their bland melodeath sound blander in comparison, as you keep wishing they'd get back to the other stuff.

So this is interesting, and the band shows definite potential, but overall this is just not exciting.