This release deserves someone smarter than me to talk about it. It's that good. This collaboration fuses Black Metal, Folk music, Doom...and whatever you call bands like GIANT SQUID, INTRONAUT and MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT. Its more than just a fusion of two obviously good bands (That I never heard of), but a fusion of genres and styles I never thought possible. Strings, screams, banjos, chugging guitar riffs, soulful vocals.... It has everything. I don't know what THE LIONS DAUGHTER or INDIAN BLANKET were doing before they created this masterpiece, and frankly I kind of don't care.  Both of those bands should merge permanently and continue to make epic songs like the eight on "A Black Sea".

The only thing stopping this release from being on everyone's "Top Albums of 2013" is lack of exposure.  So it is up to you, the people reading this to not only immediately get this, but also spread the word about it. Heavy music needs releases like this.  These are the albums that push music forward and raise the bar. In 2010, AGALLOCH was on everyone's top album list because people respected how they unconventionally broke out from the norms of their genre with MARROW OF THE SPIRIT.  This is on par, if not better than that.  Yup, I went there.

Have I mentioned enough great bands in this review yet to express how much I respect this album? This is the company it's in.  They made a banjo heavy. What more do I need to fucking write!?!?  Why are you still reading this?!