Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

This is the second half of My Epic's diptych, the first being "Ultraviolet" which I reviewed in June 2018. That one dealt with some of the more difficult aspects of faith, dealing with things which are beyond sight and understanding, with the second (this one) slated to explore the darker corners of faith, asking "What do we do when we don't have a good explanation for difficult circumstances? And how do we think of God in the midst of things that are so obviously contrary to what we think God should be like?" I've spent a lot of my time reviewing My Epic trying to work out where they sit in the stylistic pantheon and think it's easiest just to take each album as it comes. This one sits at the more pleasant end of doom metal, with definite similarities to bands such as Anathema with the unsubtle but impressively solid drumming, the distorted riffing guitars, the massive underpinning bass, the vocals that sound like they're a bit too thin (and often very effects-laden) to hold their own against the backing and yet, amazingly, do. I loved the psychedelic feel of "Spit And Blood" too, shades of which crept into other tracks making it feel a definite part of the whole album rather than a throwaway bit of light relief of which a less competent band would have been guilty. Lyrically they've some nice turns of phrase with "I won't hate you - you are not my enemy" from "Bloody Angles" and "it leaves you cursing when you want to pray" from "Black Light" standing out to me and showing how they have tackled the lyrical brief they set themselves. Musically they go from almost gentle to 100mph ("Spit It Out") without either sounding out of place. That is also a credit to the production: each track has multiple elements, all clearly there, nothing dominating to the detriment of others. I have previously said that this is a band best listened to under headphones in order to enjoy all the elements and this album continues that, producing a very satisfying whole.

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