The type of material contained in this album has been in between the war of words of the more purist Black Metal breed and the ones who defend the radical shift in Satyricon’s musical career right after getting into the big label league. The tunes contained herewith do not represent a big progression or even a shift compared to their last outing. We are dealing with heavy, hard-hitting and somewhat friendlier Norwegian Black Metal. They guys seems to have done a voluntary decision to incorporate musical influences that are further away from the boundaries of their former releases and I wonder if those new ideas are even within the Metal schema. ‘The Rite Of Our Cross’ or ‘The Pentagram Burns’ make us feel that they have not lost their dark and extreme approach of their yesterdays. The opposite are songs like ‘K.I.N.G.’, the opening tune ‘Now, Diabolical’ (thrashy feel and headbanging CELTIC FROST-esque middle section) or ‘Delirium’ which was on the verge of making me… happy! I bet stuff like this might have been too hard to swallow by several fans for sure. On a personal note, the album has been growing on me after each spin but I really miss the danger or even the pure darkness conveyed by their early albums… As pointed few lines above… friendlier Black Metal for a wider audience and definitely something that you can skip at the record shop. Visit the band website at: www.satyricon.no.