✦✦✧✧ This is a slightly groovier and more midtempo offering from these melodeath stalwarts, a refinement that suits the band quite nicely. OG have always made a virtue of cleanliness and polish, and this album is no exception, but what is new is a greater sense of laidback self-possession. The album is also a great showcase of the band’s maturity, cohesion, and evolution, which is all the more impressive when you consider that it’s the debut of a brand new rhythm section.

✦✦✧✧ After a treacly intro, OG deliver another solid suite of melodeath. There’s not a lot of envelope pushing here, which is not surprising for this band. Still, strong musicianship and standard-setting catchiness are coupled with tasty riffs in a way that proves that the formula still works well enough to get the job done.

✦✦✧✧ This album has a few standout moments of melodeath excellence, and the musicianship is expectedly topnotch. But there’s a pervasive and formulaic familiarity to a lot (possibly most) of the material here.