The music's appeal lies in epic melodic interplay between guitars, dramatically wavering underneath bleak, guttural sermons. However, vocals of this type (courtesy of defunct Warhammer Records founder and ex-member of Bloodstained Dusk, Mike Meacham) actually compromise the thrust of the band at times. The third track in particular has some bruised and pouting features that inevitably move toward stadium metal, and would have been less risible as an instrumental.

Overall, the sound of the demo has only moderate gain with resonant and fine definition between bass and drums, sounding far older than it is but quite clear. The disc also includes two decent live recordings the band took the initiative to include -- one featuring Krieg's Lord Imperial on vocals for a joint cover of Katatonia's "Brave" -- bringing the total playtime up to 35 minutes. Loss is flawed, but not beyond a few years of refinement. I look forward to what may come next.