AMPUTECHTURE

Ok, so I've been going back and forth between 4 or 5 stars, but I'll settle on 5 to balance out some of the negative reviews on this triumph of album. I thought this was a really compelling release. Vicarious Atonement is a slow burn that sets the table perfectly, with its ominous soundscape, searing guitar, and troubling lyrics. Then bang we get Tetragrammaton which is almost 17 minutes of a true musical odyssey; lots of twists and turns and musical contrast, never gets boring. The vocals on Viscera Eyes are just awesome when paired with the catchy guitar riff underneath. Day of the Baphomets is a really wild track which seems to be pulling from tons of different influences, but it does a very good job of conveying a sense of impending doom. I found this to be a really challenging but ultimately engaging listening experience.

Just one note on the mastering, I think this album has been mastered too loud. There seems to be some degradation in sound quality, and it really gives me ear fatigue sometimes. The music is already very heavy at times and the mastering engineer shouldn't have felt the need to crank the volume on top of that and damage the sound quality.