Not pissing about with any clichéd intros or other superfluous tripe, "Bearing the Serpents Lamb" sets the tone for a half hour's worth of vicious death metal; regularly tipping its hat to the genre's forefathers, but presented with a distinctly modern veneer. References to Decapitated and, to a lesser extent, Skinless are immediately evident, and Jonny Davy's pipes hint toward a gruffer David Vincent. But it's soon glaringly evident that this isn't simply another faceless addition to the growing line of death metal neophytes. Cue a subtle synth line into "The Divine Falsehood", and Job for a Cowboy take on a striking sense of dynamics and atmosphere. Add to that a suitably histrionic finale in "Coalescing Prophecy", and what you have is one of extreme music's most confident and memorable debuts in ages.