I’m not sure quite what I was expecting from this album, but whatever those expectations were, they were utterly defied once I clicked play.

I will admit that my initial reaction about halfway through the first track was “This sucks, change it.” It mostly reminded me of Sleep Token, which I cannot stand (that’s just me, and there’s no accounting for taste—YMMV).

The more I let this album, though, the more it grew on me. While I ran across it on a list of new metal releases, it is nowhere near the realm of metal. There are maybe a bit of black metal vocals here and there, but they are absolutely buried in the mix. It is tough to pin down genre-wise, with clean vocals, some hip-hop, and drum-and-bass beats scattered throughout.

I’m still not sure what I think, but it’s definitely worth a listen. I can imagine returning to this album more than once.

Originally published at https://albumwhale.com/petebrown/2025-albums#album_33711.