After releasing the modern classic, “To the Nameless Dead” and the almost as good “Exile Among the Ruins” I wanted to like this album way more than I actually did. It kills me to write this review. This band is legend and they don’t deserve to be run through the mud. Would this just be nothing but my personal opinion, I’d rate it higher and give more praise. But as a reviewer, I have to look at it as objectively as possible. Some issues I can ignore as a fan but cannot as a reviewer. This album is very hard to listen to all the way through because the album itself is overly long but the songs themselves are too. Even the best songs on the album could stand to lose at least a minute or two of run time. Doom and prog are among my favorite genres so I’m not a stranger to long songs but that doesn’t mean that every band needs them. Primordial has always been a bit long winded but this album is just too much.

The flow of this album makes that runtime even more hard to ignore. The first three songs fit perfectly together and really help push the album along at a decent pace, despite their length. The title track begins the album and it is appropriately heavy, folky and epic. The melodic intro is melancholic and sets up the tone early. “Ploughs to Rust, Swords to Dust” speeds the tempo up a bit and comes close to providing extreme vocals here and there. Regardless, the vocals are venomous, matched by the drums. “We Shall Serve” keeps the momentum going with a straight up burner that includes slower portions that are equally as engaging. But then the interlude ‘Traidisiunta’ comes along and stops the album dead in its tracks like a rocket hitting someone in the face. It isn’t a bad song but it doesn’t go anywhere either and feels like it should have been expanded or left out completely. It is a shame because the following song, “Pilgrimage to the World's End” is another great song. But after the pointless interlude, it all starts to wear down and more of the album’s problems present themselves.

“Nothing New Under the Sun” is a good song, from a songwriting standpoint. The chorus is among the better ones on the album. But this song brings to light one of the album’s worst marks against it: the guitars have absolutely no bite. I don’t know if its the tone or the boring production but the guitars hit with as much intensity as a wet noodle. This is insane to me because the album is very clearly rhythm guitar based. From this point on, the album really starts to weigh heavily even though there are some good songs to be found. Speaking of wet things lacking bite, Nemtheanga’s vocals, while mostly presenting a decent performance, are not nearly as venomous as previous albums. At times, he seems almost bored. This is a problem because without the intensity to back him up, he sometimes comes off as ‘man yelling at clouds’ instead of a more serious approach.

“Call to Cernunnos” is so inane that I almost don't want to waste my time writing about it. The main riff is cheesy and the song goes absolutely nowhere. One of the worst songs the band has ever done. That’s all I’m going to say about it. The final three songs suffer the same bad flow and filler as the first half. “All Against All” brings back some of their lost black metal elements and I found myself rather enjoying this song. The tone is more gritty and the guitars actually sound menacing. “Death Holy Death” is one of the shortest songs on the album and I thought that might be a good thing as it lacks the extra, meaningless minutes of the other songs but this one is just boring. After ‘All Against All’ brought me some hope, “Death Holy Death” sends the guitars back to the land of sleepy time for most of the songs. It actually sounds like the music on this one is secondary to the vocals. The ending of the song fairs better due to the rumbling drums but the song is inconsistent at best. And because it is stuck between two much better songs, it makes the final half of the album another trudge.

“Defeat is an Orphan” ends the album on a thankful high note. The music and vocals compliment each other so well and actually , gasp, seems like they were written with each other in mind. The band has said this might be their last album. If this is the beginning of the end, perhaps it is best they do call it a day. This isn't the worst album ever but it is a low point for them. The next album could always be better but it could also be even worse so maybe the time to finally rest from their crusade is now.