I have to admit not knowing much about the band, but if either their name or the album title name is indicative of what they have to offer, it should be an interesting ride. We have a total of 10 songs on the album; three of which are quite short. Let's dive in. "Arrows of Golden Light" is first. Tense clean guitar tones lead off the song, and it goes downhill pretty quickly, descending into the darkness where all you have to guide are your hands. The music is technical in nature, and also progressive from the meter shifting, and the vocals are shouted. Post Hardcore? Maybe. There are also harrowing elements in their sound, and that fits in with their moniker. The lyrics seem out of place…at first…but towards the end they are more fitting. "Cafune" is first of the three shorter songs, and there is still plenty of anger and aggression.

"Red" features dissonant tones in the guitar work. The vocals vary from guttural to shouts, reflecting his changing mood. There are some dark lyrics as well, as in "cherry blossom cheeks turn to ash, as malnourishment sours the oxytocin." "Compulsion" is under three minutes, and it seems as if the band has been challenged to an intensity match. They are more than determined to come out on top. The title track might be the crux crown of the album and the band flirts with Black Metal here a bit. The accents are firmly struck, as if each point on the map of navigation needs to be hammered mercilessly. The lyrics are not rated G either, "your bedroom, a scintillating shrine to your body. Silken sheets and jasmine cradle your sleep.  Bruised perfume and fingernails intoxicating me. My hand, a desperate actress, slides feverishly into my underwear. I stand here in the dark. Dissociating, you bring me to climax."

"Black Orchids" is much darker, and the shadow it casts seems to loom. The sound is deeply contentious, and the lyrics remind you of the futility you sometimes let into your life too easily. "We are shards of broken mirrors that reflect the dislocated efforts we pour into truth." "Totem" is an angry burst of a love gone wrong, or perhaps, the point of view from someone who's delusions don't let them know the difference. "Remembering the maps I thought I drew for you, I now see only traced lines of my madness, littered with sunken ships that never left the harbor to be with you.  Each one, a totem of what is and what could have been." "600 Milligrams" furthers the tale of twisted love where his final plan comes to fruition: "I stifle your muffled cries with one hand, while preparing the syringe with the other 600 milligrams of dissonant oblivion enter your neck. And in moments, your form melts into the tender embrace of your pillow, and at last, we are united, destined to depart this realm as one."

"Coalescence" is the final song, and it's defined as "the joining or merging of elements to form one mass or whole." This sounds lovely, but the album has no happy ending. The song recounts her final moments as a victim of torture and brutality. "Your skin quivers with my touch, pure repulsion. Dragged from the vehicle, you beg for mercy. You tell me you love me through the teeth of parents who lie to dying kids. Our love chokes on treason, and you are guilty as charged." To summarize the album, in addition to the chainsaw intensity and its bruising, take no prisoners nature, I love the shifting pacing. It can take off like an errant rocket or slow to a dangerous crawl. The latter moments are most frightening, because they give you more time to think and to consider what lies in front of you. Even in the best of circumstances, love can sting like a scorpion. Maybe all of us have a little serial killer locked up inside us somewhere.