To me, Pilgrim had a pretty decent debut album with Misery Wizard but the album had one major flaw. Though no fault of the band, the album was released about one month before the debut Pallbearer album, which caused Pilgrim to fall by the wayside. However, two years later, Pilgrim are back with a new album, and less competition. I honestly did not know the band was releasing a new album already, but I was very excited to give it a listen, and see if this album would stay in more constant rotation.

The album starts off with an intro track, which is pretty forgettable. It does serve it's job well by building up the second track, Master's Chamber well, and the album really starts off. At over 10 minutes, this is the longest song on the album and a pretty good kick off to the record. The riffing is heavy and entrancing. The bass is thick underneath and the drums kick very well. Like the last album, the vocal are cleanly sung, in a bit of a higher register. The track does seem a little too long and kind of drags the last minute or so.

The next three tracks are all pretty quick and to the point, all of them being around the 4 minute mark or so. The Paladin has a very nice riff, and a faster pace compared to the last track. It's really a good head banger, and has become probably my favorite track on the album. Arcane Sanctum starts with a more melodic, slow intro before the song kicks in around the minute forty mark. The intro is nice, but seems a bit too long as it takes up nearly half the track. The track itself is an instrumental, so I can understand the longer intro section a bit, but the rest of the song is more interesting, and I wish they had more focus on that. The song's last minute is the same riff as the intro but with the rest of the instruments coming in (minus vocals), and reminds me again that the lone guitar and drum intro was too long for what it did. The next track The Process of Evil takes us back to the faster side of things, with a pretty good riff. The track is another instrumental, but stands out compared to the prior track, and just has a more interesting sound to it.

Next up is the title track to the album, and it is a little disappointing initially. The opening riff is decent, but doesn't stand out much to me. Once the vocals kick in, the rest of the music a little slower, more plodding, but not any more interesting than before. I don't feel much from the track at all, and it honestly seems like the only real filler track besides the intro. The penultimate track Dwarven March is another quick instrumental, and serves as an interlude of sorts to the final track. Not much to say. The music is the same repetitive pattern for the tracks duration, but I still enjoy it more than the intro. It really is a pretty harmless segue to the final track Away From Here. The opening to the track is not too bad, the riff is heavy, and the music as a whole is slow, but kept interesting. Once again, I feel it does perhaps drag a bit for the lack of variation before the vocals come in. The track does suffer a bit, much like the title track, for not being the most interesting thing on the album. Anyone who has read prior reviews of mine, knows that I feel a final track should bring the album to a good climax. This track does not accomplish that, and plods away until the feedback ending. The album started of really well, but the last couple "real" songs bring the quality down for me quite a bit.

This was a bit upsetting. With the lack of other highly regarded albums to compete with, I was ready to give my attention to this album fully, and hopefully be more impressed and hooked than Misery Wizard. However, this album did not really do that for me. Not as a whole anyway. The first half of the album has some really strong, bright moments. However, the last few tracks really make the album drag a bit, and sadly do not do much to make me want to come back to this album. I'm sure I will listen to the first few tracks a bit, but not much more than that. Despite not having much competition so far, with some albums coming out later this year, I have a feeling this album will be like the prior, and will fall by the wayside. The band had something really good going, and I wish they could have kept it up. Feel free to check out my favorite track The Paladin here and decide for yourself if you want to check out more.