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Well this was a surprise. First album by this band from Canada, and I was not expecting much. I mean, do you know how many reedy, tinny wannabe Black Metal discs I get? But this came hurtling out of my stereo like a rampaging wolf. This has a nice, blistering production, with atonal riffs backed up by a pummeling lower end. When the band cranks up and blazes away they sound really good. The shrieking vocals are pretty one-dimensional, and they do get rather monotonous, in fact the band has a bit of a tendency overall to go on for too long and repeat things more than is good for them. Opener "Entering Darkness" actually manages to hold together as a real 10-minute song, but some of the compositions do wear out their welcome. Feral demonstrate a real knack for catchy riffs that remain distinctly Black Metal riffs, harsh and bitter, but with depths of melodic shading.

This is a long album, with long songs, and by the end it's pretty obvious that it's too long, but there is too much quality on display here for that to cancel things out. There are so many good moments on this disc that it overcomes any complaints I have about it being repetitive. Just when I start to get restive the music does something awesome and grabs my attention again. Underground gold.