This was one of the first Asunder albums I had heard. I was impressed with it, because for some reason, I had the idea that doom metal wasn't all that special, but now I realize that I was greatly mistaken. Asunder, to me, is one of the leading doom bands. With this release, they have pushed themselves even further. Pumping out 70 minuet CDs isn't an easy thing to do, especially if there is only two songs on it.
"A Famine" - I really enjoy this song. It has elements of clean guitars, but also has the power of distortion and guttural vocals. Starting off the CD with this track was a good idea since "Rite of Finality" isn't a power piece at the beginning. The guitar work on this song is excellent. There are no mistakes and everything is so tight. It would be difficult to be so tight in a doom band that has hour long songs. Memorizing one or two Asunder songs is like memorizing another band's entire album, plus some more. The drums are always simple, but are played very well, there are no accidental temo changes, which is hard to do at such a slow speed. The vocals make for a nice harmony with the cello at the beginning, but also carry out the song all the way through. The clean vocals are in tune, and the growls are deep and professionally done.
"Rite of Finality" - This song isn't as good as "A Famine", but it still is classic Asunder and finishes the CD ok, but they could have written another song instead of having the thirty minutes of ambient stuff, or they could have just had the CD be only 50 minutes long. It seems like they got tired or writing, and just said, "Hey, let's put 30 minutes of nothing after this song to extend the CD length." The guitar intro to this song is enchanting. It isn't any crazy hard/fast acoustic thing, it is just a tasteful riff, that also has emotion. Asunder comes across as evil, but still melodic. This song is a perfect example of that. Just like "A Famine", all the instruments and vocals are precise and very well played.
I give this album a 85 because they really could have taken out the ambient stuff, and "Rite of Finality" just didn't do it for me like "A Famine" did. This is a great album, and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't heard doom metal, or is already a big fan. Asunder is a must for any metal-head.