Grading projects like this one are always the toughest. I could just talk it up, but to me it's like a simulation of a 99.5/100 and that .5 is the difference that makes a real difference for me. Stylistically, this is an excellent album, by a cohesive, and original band. However, as I said, it seems like a simulation of a high caliber band, and not really a high caliber band. Like if you had some super program that could write music, and pair it with musicians who were minimally capable of playing it. Or maybe it starts with the market model it wants, and then clones a band from the DNA of old rock stars, to match it's specs? ...or maybe they just lost their drummer 6 months before they started production? I don't know, but I imagine that's the kind of juju that went into the creation of "With All My Hate".

In many ways, this is perhaps the most original work I've listened to in a long time. It could be my own lack of exposure talking here but starting with "Strange Saviours", I noticed that I had a really hard time finding synthesis, meaning hearing similarities between it, and what I'd heard others do before. Zero intro unless you count the operatic "Human Freak Show" as it's intro. Kind of like MESHUGGAH Chaosphere...no intros, just straight sonic brutality.  And if anything can be said of this album, it is that it's brutal. "Dawn Of The Atheist" has a few bits in it, where I felt like Iban really bit down on his mouthpeice, and delivered a higher textured floor for the rest of the band to grip on to. At the 3 minute mark it slogs it's way through the last of a heavy marsh, and starts into this blistering rip that made it all worth the listen.

This isn't to suggest I think this band is all that great. The vocals are pretty much incomprehensible. I have a hard time with that, because I like to sing along with the bands I listen to. If I can't understand you, I can't sing along. The drummer is synchopated with the band excellently, but there doesn't seem to be any trust between them. So while Iban is a literal heart-beat, I just got kind of a sterile aggression from his playing, like he was less than familiar with the material, or at least the abilities of his bandmates. With the depth of quality of everyone else's contribution, and his obvious talent, I would have loved to hear him flashing it up a tad more. Instead his playing is consistent throughout the entire album. Meaning you could take the drum track for any song, swap it with another, and probably not really notice the difference...might even improve things a little.