I was under the impression 2014 couldn't get better for the Metal world; stellar releases from the genre's figureheads, and the surge of excellent new talent. The year also sees a release for Finnish Gothic/Black/Doom frontrunners FRACTURED SPINE. The way the styles are deconstructed and reconstructed, allows for accessibility and listenability for newcomers to what is, realistically, an obscure part of the spectrum.

"Dead To Me" unleashes the metal with an explosive power that I had not expected. The heaviest, fastest, most aggressive riffs on the album can be found here, if that is your cup of tea, but blackened tentacles surely creep their way in. The sheer power of the atmosphere alone is overwhelmingly immense, with the riffs a sharp juxtaposition between tight chops and deathly-cold tremolos. The closing of the track is one of the most powerful moments I have heard in metal for a long time.

"The Dying Soul", a toned-down, clean piece, seemed a little out of place, with bleak, suicidally-minded lyrics that, in my humble opinion, did not seem to fit the vocal style nor the rest of the album in general, but soon enough we come to the beautiful "Deprived of Daylight". One of the more adventurous, hell, avant-garde piece, the track is intricately painted on an expansive tapestry. Shapeless, amorphous, but not directionless, the pieces deliberately fit but don't fit. Foreboding melodies cast a shadow over the unassumingly intricate arrangements, laced with a burning ambience. "Suicidal Patterns" seems to pull everything in together; the ever drowning riffs, the atmosphere of thick, sonic fog, the lamenting vocals.

Truly a thrilling discovery for me, I look forward to future material from these masters of atmospheric extreme Metal.