This album is amazing technical death metal. The whole album is well produced, and the musicianship is amazing. The vocals are typical Chuck's growls barked out, the music is brutally heavy and insanely progressive. Their are some great guitar solos found on the album, crazy time signature changes and Gene Hoglan is all over the kit. It takes a listen or two to get into and the songs are quite unconventional and not very catchy save for a few passages, the music's strength lies in its aggressiveness and depth. Andy LaRocque does a nice job with his guitar capturing some of the dark '80s styled melodies, although they're still quite a bit different than his work with King Diamond. There really aren't any weak songs on this disc and each one because of the complexity is kinda hard to pin point, but its all technical and it all rocks. "Destiny" and "The Philosopher" are probably my favorite tracks, the former has an acoustic build in. The later is the catchiest song on the album. "Overactive Imagination" and "Jealousy" are both strong cuts as well, and feature cool parts. I highly recommend this album to musicians. The drumming is just phenomenal and will leave anyone stunned, I can't over emphasize that. I should probably also point out the unique bass tone this album has, listen to little fills here and there, it adds quite a bit to the music. This is an excellent piece of metal, but their best work is yet to come.

Rating: 8,7