LILYUM is a Black Metal band formed in Italy in 2002. This is the band’s ninth studio album and has nine songs. “Noetic Negative” is the first proper track. Out of the gate, the first thing that I pick up on is awful production value, and an amateur, old school type of sound. Some of the backing effects are cool, but the drums tend to take over much of the song, making it hard to distinguish the riff. “Boneseeker” also has a thick and overgrow drum line, and the riff is not very inventive. So far, there isn’t much to champion.

 “Sermon of the Sword” is the longest track on the album. It starts with a bit of a build, with spacey keyboards that give the listener an outerworld feeling. From there, thick bass notes take over, and angry vocals. The drums aren’t quite as powerful here either, and this is their first solid track. “The Unclean One” however hears the band revert back to the previous sound, which again is just uninspired, and once again, the drums are too heavy in the mix. “Whither Oblivion Crawls” has some harrowing elements that are very well done, but the song as a whole is just not very different from the rest of the album.

 “Bonded beyond Blood” is a thick, deep, and darker song, highlighting the nefarious qualities of the title. “He Walks behind my Shadow” closes the album. Although the vocals are particularly frightening, the song has a similar sound to many of the others. Overall, the production was the worst part of the album, but the songwriting wasn’t much better. Many of the songs ran together, and the album had an amateur quality to it. Although there were brief moments of some cool background elements, they could not overtake the thick drum sound which dominating everything.