The formula is applied for a few more songs, but just when you think you have Snowblood pinned, they produce "The Year of the Bastard", an eruption of blast beats and death metal fury. While the internal culture clash of this one-hour monstrosity of a CD may sometimes seem jarring, the group really do pull it all together for a stirring finale, the sixteen-minute "Black Stars Over Glasgow" being a marvelous epic of brooding intensity, followed by a beautiful coda entitled "Appearance".

_Being and Becoming_ does have its flaws, with some passages coming off as a little redundant; indeed, the entire song "Call Off the Search" could easily have been left on the cutting-room floor. While in that respect I'd like to see the band exercise some restraint in the future, I do hope they resist pressure from outside forces demanding that they choose between their indie rock and extreme metal leanings, because this unlikely marriage of styles has given birth to quite an impressive album.