The long awaited follow up album, features over 75 minutes of music and showcasing a new lineup with Julie Brandenburg on vocals and bassist Chris Ortiz, as well as a list of guest appearances. Familiar sounds have returned as well as extended musical explorations featuring more synthesizers, theremin, and acoustics as well as gongs, vibraphones, and extended percussion. Eight tracks are woven together like chapters from a book to tell you tales of strife, destiny, and despair.

"Intro - Midian Uprising" leads off the album. It's brief, mood-setting instrumental, and sounds like a space craft is firing up its engines and about to head off to parts unknown. Seguing into "Unleash the Berserkers," the sound changes a bit to a darker offering. It picks up with a faster pace of meaty bass guitars and drums amidst the dreamy, ethereal vocals of Brandenburg. This is indeed some odd music, played at the hands of experienced musicians, but it surely occupies a niche that most Prog heads haven't delved into yet. The leads build to a frenzy.

"A Chapter from the Book of Blood" is a 21-minute beast. It opens with a slow, dark and heavy groove, then lightens to clean guitars. The mood is very somber. The vocals are hushed at first, to go along with the music. Some meaty bass notes lead the charge closing in on the half-way mark, followed by spacey keys, and some vocal moans. The guitar solo that follows is equally as spacey, and you suddenly look around to make sure that you haven't left his earthly place. The instrumental jam continues through most of the mid-section of the song, eventually leading to a softer closing sound. "Maerlyn's Grapefruit" is a short, three-minute segue. It's a dark and quite piece.

"The Man in Black Fled Across the Desert Part 1" begins with much the same sound. The doleful and depressing tones indicate that the subject did not get far in their journey. It segues into part two, which is both longer and much heavier. Thick bass notes attack out of the gate, along with guitar and drums in support. The fuller and more aggressive sound occupies much of the track, leading to a long and spacey fade-out at the end. "The Way Station" is a five-minute song that opens again with softer tones. Some Folky instruments also rear their head in this piece...something we haven't heard a lot of on the album.

The 23-minute "Drawing of the Three" closes the album, in three movements. The first movement is dark and brooding, complete with angry vocals. A smoking guitar solo along with the bass parts reminds me of early RUSH quite a bit. Back then, there were very few male vocalists who could have handled Geddy's parts, so it is only fitting that a female handles them. It's hard to tell the individual movements however, especially when the extended mid-section becomes somewhat bogged down in a repeated lead harmony section. A more emotional solo follows, and your fate is all but sealed. The ending is very depressing as your time draws to a close.

This was a highly personal album that featured some outstanding musicianship. You probably have to be a Prog head however to really appreciate all of the nuances within. Therein lies the problem for the average music listener, but we are here to champion bands not complain about them. Sit down and give this a serious listen, and you will marvel at all of the wonderful surprises it has to offer.