I really prefer the lyrics of IN. They were so fucking aggressive. That aside, the lyrics here are pretty cool to, but feel a tad regressed into a melding of stuff like "Killers from the Deep" and IN stuff. I personally think the mid tempo stuff on here is kinda boring with exception in a few cases. You guys wrote "we who are about to die" That's how you write a proper mid-tempo thrasher! That, or pretty much the majority of IN lol. To be honest, the mid tempo tracks are growing on me but I feel they could have a lot better. Anyway, to me the best part of this album or the real standout is the vocals. Matt really shows his stuff here. Some of the more technical riffs are super cool as well, like In Dreams of Terror's fast riffs. The harmonies during a lot of the solos are great as well, particularly the one during the title track. It throws you for a loop, that section of the solo.
I really kind of want to see a redux of this album. Why? Just to have live pro recordings of "Origin of Oblivion." It sounds so much more massive live from the videos I've seen, kind of flat in studio, to me.
To me this record feels a bit reactionary. I think the direction IN took was a great step in the right direction, but it just wasn't refined. This to me seems like a digression, like it should be the 2nd album, like "No More Color" to "Mental Vortex". The biggest improvement I see here is in the vocals, no doubt, but the riffs as a whole seem like they could just be more.
I love the album, but I wish it had been a refinement of the style established on IN as opposed to a backwards step towards ETG. It doesn't sound bad or anything, I just think it could have been more if it had been approached with a different mindset. In Dreams of Terror and FST (the song) seem so close to what I imagine but the rest of the album doesn't seem to hold up to that standard and even those two songs aren't really there.
However, all of that is big picture stuff. When it comes down to the songs on their own, I really like it. I still can't get into Cult. I can see the idea that's there but for some reason I just can't get into it! I can imagine it being super fun to play but listening to it I just can't get into it, really. And for some reason, I acknowledge that Long Live the Flesh is a bit cheesy and generic but I really like it? Hahaha.
