THE INNER CIRCLE

The band deals with the subject of people who are in cults or religious groups who feel they are part of "The Inner Circle". Thus they give these powerful, deceptive leaders their money, time and themselves as they fall under their influence. One major complaint I have with such a serious subject are the pictures in the liner notes of the band partying, and doing what I feel are inappropriate things for the concept they present. Now if this was a live record or if they were dealing with a frivilous subject then I don't really care what pictures they present. It just doesn't seem right to me to be so dramatic and emotional about this and have so many samples of these "evil" religious men ranting, and then to have pictures of the band all loaded up and acting stupid.

"A Touch Of Blessings" builds to pounding drums and aggressive vocals.The guitar solos are tasteful and incredible especially around 4 minutes with background synths."Ambassador" has lots of beautiful guitar solos and angy,passionate vocals."In The Wake Of The Weary" features more drumming that I find annoying and some female vocals. "Harmless Wishes" has some orchestration and choir and the vocals go from being reserved to intense. Nice solo 3 minutes in.

"Waking Up Blind" is a mellow song about breaking free from the inner circle. "More Than Ever" is a heavy tune with riffs to open."The Essence Of Conviction" is a fairly intricate song with a monologue. "Where All Good Sleep" features riffs and keys as vocals come in with some layered backing vocals. "Faith Restored" is a mellow, emotional song. "When The Walls Come Down" is an instrumental with lots of religious ranting. The song actually builds right to the end which is cool.

This is way down in my list of favourite Metal albums, there is no question this is good and I love the guitar solos on this record but it's not essential by any means.