Another song I really liked was Track 4, "Crossed Lines." The track starts with some awesome downtuned guitars delivering a perfect headbanging riff – something you'd expect to hear at an old-school death metal/black metal gig in the early 2000s. The vocals complement the mix incredibly well: slow, well-pronounced, and harsh. Even though the drums are arguably "simple-ish" on this track, I feel they are some of the most effective on the album. The general tempo of the song is spot on and allows for plenty of experimentation, which is evident in the multiple layers I can hear. The halfway mark sounds pretty awesome. It takes a very melodic turn after a nice little drum fill and a less harsh riff progression. The melody sounds quite glassy but very sweet and soothing – a tone not often used in black metal, but in the right situation, as it is here, it sounded great!

Track.7 "Psycho Circus" sounded really interesting. I think the guitar playing here is my personal favorite from the entire album. It starts with a cool little string bending pattern only to throw you headfirst into the crushing riff. One small thing I particularly liked with this riff was the drums… if you listen closely, the snare hits are played slightly before you expect to hear them on a generic 4/4 rhythm. This minor detail gives the whole section an awesome new feel. As an ex-drummer, these are the things I pick up on, and I love them so much. As the song progresses, you hear some great clean vocals. I think these vocals are absolutely amazing: harsh, raspy, full of anguish and pain, yet still classified as "clean" vocals. After this vocal passage, you hear a cool little breakdown-styled part where the guitars go down in pitch with a more chunky approach to the vibe which makes you headbang! The bass sound here is particularly punchy and nice, adding much of the chunk and driving force that some of the main riffs need to really give you that push. Again on the singer. around the 3-minute mark, I loved the addition of the haunting vocal parts where the vocalist sounds possessed by a spirit or entity. All of these layers building simultaneously make for a truly amazing song.

Track 5 "Serenade of perversion"serves as the chief headbanging song in my opinion. I really enjoyed how this song turned out. I feel this would be the track I'd show someone to introduce them to the band: clear, crisp, punchy, and right in your face. The drums at the start of the track are super fierce, and I liked how the vocals add an extra melody to the chord progression. The lyrics on this song really stood out to me as well. Great job to the singer for being able to convey such messages in such a well-pronounced way, and the way you can hear his actual voice along with the shouting overlay makes it sound even better. This song also offers some great bittersweet melodies just before the chorus lyrics.

Track 9, "Outsider," is the second shortest track on the album. Although it isn't my favorite song on the album, I found its approach super interesting and think its placement as the closing song was well-calculated. This song, to me, gives a sense of closure – not too quick and in your face, but nice and groovy/riff-oriented to keep you engaged until the very end. There are some great slow parts that lean into a more eerie, downbeat vibe, something I've heard from more "morbid" black metal. I think the band played this section very well and I would like to hear their future work explore this slower, more dissonant vibe further. My favorite drum passage from the album is on this song, starting around the 3:09 mark. The tempo changes create a more D-beat/crust punk atmosphere, leading the song into a more "jiggy" feeling. This part was great for the guitars to really take flight with the punchy power chord progressions. Shout out for the amazing cymbal work on this part, I loved the ride cymbal hits as the track fades out.