From Bandcamp, "Sweden's NINE ORDERS is a new unique addition to the world of Heavy and Progressive music. Full of riffs and rhythms that groove, and harmonies spanning the melancholic and dramatic, their sound is as massive as delicate. With melodies carried by wide-ranging clean vocals, they take a 90s progressive sound into new territory, reminiscing a bit of contemporary EVERGREY." Their newest album here contains seven songs, and "St. Thomas' Gate" is first. It has a slow and powerful opening riff that sort of lingers in the shadows at first. It keeps a steady presence, not overdoing things too much, and emotions rise in the chorus, giving you a rush of adrenaline. "Vortex of Victory" picks up where the first song left off, with another slow moving pace. Progressive music doesn't always have to be overly fast or technical, but the melancholy sound isn't as exciting as I had hoped. The vocal harmonies are excellent however.

"Man Made Order" has another lumbering riff and the vocals don't connect to the key very well. It's a bit dissonant, which never bothers me, but it hard to take flight. Some music just likes to remain grounded, and this is no exception. "Ghost of Me" has that empty quality you might expect from the title. Loss, and regret, can take a toll on someone, and often you just feel like a "ghost" of your former self. That is what the piano led song does for me. The bass notes are excellent here, and some Progressive elements enter with subtle meter shifts. "The Vast Forgotten" carries a similar sound. I get much of the melancholic elements that the band talks about, but not so much the dramatic ones. If there were a bit more contrast between the two, it could really elevate the album. Again, the vocal harmonies and blues based riffs are excellent however.

"1060 Days" is a lengthy eight minutes. At first, it wallows with lament. It hardens from there, with tones of resolve instead of despair. The inner conflict he faces seems to be weighing down on him. The keyboards are an excellent addition to the music here. "A Creature" is the final song, and it's another song that drips with feelings of despair, regret, and even undefined melancholy. Perhaps my biggest concern about the album isn't the songwriting, or the musicianship, it's rather the succession of one melancholy song after another. It keeps the album from really being able to take flight. Progressive music is typically always full of surprises, but this just coasted under the radar for me.