I love the intro to this album! No, seriously, I do, despite the to say it the least mediocre rating. Monks chanting away like it's the last day on earth is so utterly cool!
Apart from that, I'm not amused. The French guys in Fatum Elisium take it down real slow and with little variation over the 72 minutes this album lasts. There's a bit of speed somewhere in the 21 minute epos Twilight Prophet, by that time, you're almost a goner. The title track of the album starts out in fine pace as well, but is marred by a vocal which doesn't work at all.
The vocal effort in a few instances is dreadful to say it plainly and it simply won't do in music which is slow and therefore creates an even bigger focus on the vocal performance.
Finally, just to get all the negative stuff out of the way, the production leaves much to be desired. It has a strangely hollow and simplistic sound rather than the depth and warmth that doom metal, I my view, must have.
It's not all bad; there are fine moments and ditto ideas here and there, but all in all, it's not the dog's bollocks.
