Even though the ideas displayed here aren’t bad at all, the lack of orchestration hurts the album terribly. Faustus consists on a drummer and a vocalist/guitarist but they didn’t record a bass track for studio purposes either. Forget about leads or second guitar arrangements too: the guitar track was probably recorded in several layers to get a thicker tone but in terms of composition it’s completely unidimensional and plain, just one voice. The simplicity of the riffs would have served as a mattress for the rest of layers to harmonize but none of that happens in this record, sadly. The riffs themselves are cold and dismal, you can recognize the permafrost black metal sway but also it sounds weak and hollow.
Inquisition nailed that band configuration but just take a look at Dagon’s riffing, man. Complex in rhythmic figures, combining arpeggios (harmonization) with strong melodic themes, speed and precision. Here we have nothing like that, the riffing is very norwegian style, just strumming through the chord progression. 0 tempo changes, no rhythmic textures, every coming bar is so predictable… and still the heavy hearted atmosphere is there because the intervals between the chords are indeed tense and saddening but that’s the only valuable thing this proposal has as a black metal act.
The production is raw, just as a the band’s sound. The drumming was properly recorded, the double bass sounds solid and they included some interesting cymbal fills that are probably the only variations that make this sound not programmed. There are no blast beats, the faster parts are decorated with accelerated tupa tupa thrash beats and the rest of the time they just keep the melancholic and nostalgic mid tempo beat. The guitar tone is so overly distorted that barely represents the note changes but you can get the idea cleary because there aren't any other sounds that can take your attention away from it. The vocals are awesome: a deep shriek, high pitched but potent, not guttural but with a fair share of low end. It's a shame half the album is instrumental.