Blood Red Throne, to me, old school mid-paced death metal masters. They have established the art of being absolutely brutal while maintaining a healthy dose of groove to help metalheads bang to. Beginning with an ominous atmospheric track to get things going, the mood of the album is set. We are ready for the death metal crunch that this band has delivered so potently in the past. Two minutes and forty one seconds into the album brutality emerges combining the best of mid-paced Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse with Cryptopsy's speed and bass work. In actuality, it would be an insult to this band to compare them to their counterparts, because Blood Red Throne is a band that thrives with their own sound in an otherwise saturated death metal market.

Blood Red Throne is quickly turning into one of those bands that can seemingly do no wrong with their releases. When I first popped this CD in, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind I would be listening to out of this world death metal that I could completely groove to, and my expectations were surpassed by the sheer talent this band possesses. Death metal lately, has been filled with bands trying to one up each other on pure speed and raw aggression. Sometimes though, a healthy helping of decelleration is called for, with an abundance of creative riffs and catchy chords giving us death metal fans a real treat in a genre that is being determined by how muddy you can make your guitar intricacies, and how many bpm you can get your drum machine up to.

Blood Red Throne is one of my favorites at the moment, and this latest release only cements that opinion. If you are a death metaller and have not heard this band, you are doing yourself an incredible disservice. Get off your lazy ass and buy this album if a heavy dose of neck breakage is what you need in your life! Norway is a nation that in the past has loved its black metal, which is fine, but I have yet to hear a death metal act coming from the Nordic lands (except for maybe Sweden) that ias eviscerated my ears like Blood Red Throne has. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up, you will NOT be disappointed.