In recent promotional interviews, frontman Kirk Windstein has pointedly stated that when approaching the making of this, their 11th album, he took the decision to look back over the band's long career. The idea was to try and inhabit the same mind-set that saw them make such a lasting impact in the early nineties with their ferocious yet unique doom metal sound. A band so ready to embrace their past can go one of two ways but happily for fans of the band this period of self-analysis has prompted them to make their tightest album in years.

Opener "Falling While Rising" is a perfect summation of the band's strengths, showing off their mastery of fast and slow dynamics. It begins with a typically measured and unhurried sludgey opening before becoming a paroxysm of rage with a monstrous mid-tempo riff. Few bands are able to pull off such tempo changes further highlighted by the blistering "Plasmic and Purge" which mixes in a bludgeoning riff, underpinned by a classic metal guitar part and topped off with a slow, moody bridge. "I Am the Storm", as the name suggests, sounds like the coming of a hurricane, a typhoon and thunderstorm all in one. As the shortest song on the album, it's a concise but blunt slab of brutal doom metal.

Amongst the savagery there are moments of bleak beauty such as on the emotional "Surviving The Abyss" which feature some beautiful harmonies from guitarist Mathew Brunson. Similarly, "The Serpent" mixes in some clean vocal harmonies that allow the song to breath before grabbing you tightly around the throat. The band has never sounded so tight and at ease with their sound. "The Enemy Beside You" features slightly off kilter riffing but ends with a riff heavy coda that could rattle long buried dinosaur bones. The straight forward but affecting "Embrace The Light" rides on a moody ascending and descending riff. "On Holy Ground" recalls Seattle legends ALICE IN CHAINS at their heaviest and dirgiest.

The lyrics on here are still rooted in the domestic with Windstein addressing relatable issues of isolation, rejection and alienation but with a power and confidence that elevates the album lyrically to one the band's finest to date. The production work really allows their pure heaviness to shine through but not at the expense of the songs themselves. The guitars on the album are as thick and chunky as their best work with the drum sound sounding simply colossal.

While, the doomy riffs are reassuringly familiar this is no mere re-tread for the band. The band sound invigorated and energised, backed up by a really strong set of songs that allow the band to do what they do best but still push at the edges of their sound. This is a mature CROWBAR album but only in the way that they seem totally sure of themselves. An album that clearly demonstrates why CROWBAR are seated at the top table of Doom Metal.