Thou offer that relatively brief opener before diving right into the album's magnum opus, "An Age Imprisoned", an extended gaze into a musical abyss in which the guitars drop one chord after another into the fathomless black, pausing a bar or two to listen for an echo that isn't coming. By the seven minute mark even the drums and vocals have been swallowed whole. "Burning Black Coals and Dark Memories" retains the blackened doom foundation while adding a veneer of shard like post-metal guitar riffs. "The Road of Many Names" ultimately finishes things off with a quicker, more typically southern feel, maybe early High on Fire played with old Carcass / Bolt Thrower tuning. Throughout it's the instrumentation that shines, Bryan Funck's vocals being subsumed by the sheer vacuum of brutality the guitars and rhythm section generate in their wake. It's difficult to say whether this is due to Funck's merely serviceable chops or whether it's the production itself hamstringing his abilities. Tell you what though: next time they roll through town I'm up for giving him a chance to prove himself where it counts.