A year and several months ago, I submitted a review to this website as part of a contest. The winner of this contest got the chance to be a reviewer here at Metal Temple. The review that I wrote was for ORDER OF ENNEAD's self-titled debut. That album blew me away because of its unique sound and I wrote in that review (and still believe) that that should have been the follow-up to DEICIDE's "The Stench of Redemption" as opposed to the lousy "'Til Death Do Us Part."

ORDER OF ENNEAD was formed from the ashes of COUNCIL OF THE FALLEN. Drummer Steve Asheim as well as guitarist Kevin Quirion are members of DEICIDE. Their self-titled debut was released in 2008 and received mostly positive reviews.

For "An Examination of Being," the lineup and musical direction are pretty much the same as the previous album. On the surface, this would seem to be like a good thing. However, the uniqueness and quality has taken a hit. On their self-titled album, there was a strong atmosphere on songs like "The Culling" amidst the death/black metal intensity that really set it apart for so many bands that were attempting to do something comparable. Here, the songs often sound too similar to one another. John Li is a great find, but unlike the last album, his solos here don't seem to add much to the song, even though they are technically very good. Much like the songs, the solos don't seem to differentiate themselves from each other.

I also remember reading somewhere that Steve Asheim said that there would be more piano pieces on this album, but there weren't any that I heard. I found his drumming to be a bit lackluster too, although I'm sure that was not helped by the lousy sound of the demo that I got.

Perhaps the biggest factor that kept me from enjoying this album to its fullest extent was the beeps that were placed in the middle of the songs from the record company. For a band that, in my opinion, benefits from a strong atmosphere, the beeps really ruin the aura surrounding each of the songs.

While this certainly isn't a terrible album, it is not an unabashed positive achievement like their self-titled. Steve Asheim and John Li are the main factors that make this band so enjoyable, and I found their performances and songwriting just were not up to par this time around. A more varied vocalist or vocal approach wouldn't hurt either. Better luck next time.