The first five or six times I played Ekpyrosis it really did not impress me at all. That was two weeks ago. As I am writing this, it has been playing on "repeat" for a couple of hours, and I still cannot sit still!

First it seemed repetitive and dull, but suddenly this album became brilliant! It starts off with a punch in the face - the brutal song "A World in Hell" - and travels through an entire genre-catalogue of black and death metal. On the way musical tribute is paid to defining bands like Belphegor ("Thoughts of Life They Wither") and early Dimmu Borgir ("The Devouring Eye"), and fellow Swedes like Marduk and Dark Funeral (Enemy of Creation). One could almost consider calling this fast-paced merciless black variant "Swedish Metal"! A blood red cocktail of traditional and modern metal, with a high degree of technical finesse.

The vocals, delivered by Infaustus, is very impressive and versatile, and generally the band is as tight as a nun. I did not think about all this when I first heard the album. It grew on me, slowly and steadily, like a benign tumor. Ekpyrosis is definately worth the effort!