"Misery loves company", said Mephistopheles, and here two voices adequately complement each other's foul perspectives, caught unraveling through spheres of keys and sludgy doom vibrations. Wrest's contribution entails only three tracks, but total nearly thirty minutes pursuing a sturdy, concentrated approach supported by production that breaks the guitar into sleepy grains falling over the drums and bass. With its emphasis on drifting melody, slowly unraveling chords between synthesized string voices, the set may seem dull in comparison to the band's usual aesthetic, but creates an enveloping narrative that only loses momentum in its final moments -- an added cover of Judas Iscariot's "Where the Winter Beats Incessant". However fitting it may be, it remains below the level of force that Xasthur wills to transport through five withering pieces, undoing a string of shoddy work through the last few years with toxic breath and keynotes giving life to glowing orbs of melody.

The over-emotional, suicidal aspect of Malefic's sound, which eventually handicapped the band, is replaced by an otherworldly atmosphere and gothic darkness brought on by more complex composition (akin to ambient sound trackers Shinjuku Thief) and layers of black on black sound. A cover of Katatonia's "Palace of Frost" closes things on a still threatening note with its pendulum swaying riffs, adequately fused with the distressed recording technique and mechanical drum pulses.

The layout for this release is spare and unremarkable, aesthetically inferior to the first LP. However, the doubling of Xasthur's material makes for a worthy repurchase and is highly recommended to all.