This band is legendary for one simple album they put out in 2003. Although, aside from that release, I have to say their other efforts haven't impressed much. After a sizable 8 year break since they're last album, they've released an album that in terms of structural makeup and core ideas, does return to what made Colossal Titan Strife so damn impressive.
That is to say - ceaseless brutality, relentless drumming, with endless kick drum, and quick, technical guitar work. An understanding of melody and pace, and a tactful use of leads and shredding technical passages. That, you see, is the core of the sound that made this band so brutally delicious. That said, only the core of the idea remains. I'd liken it to a dude who was once in peak condition, muscular and cut, and he's now a bit flabby - you can still tell he used to have muscle, but it's just not optimal. It's like they're once fatal formula has been diluted, and the production has the biggest part in the regression.
The production is that flab. It's like they ended up with some dude who produces dance music. It's so bass-heavy that it really loses the punch, and so down-tuned it fails to hit the ear with full force. The new vocalist also fails to deliver a worthwhile performance, sounding exceedingly generic and not matching that special uniqueness this band has.
That said, there is a sound here, and a prevailing scene of, "My, how brutal is this Greek mythology?" that does harken back to Colossal Titan Strife. Even in so far as a couple tracks like Brotherlords and Aeons Titan Crown sound like they are revisiting a couple tracks off that album, obviously even in name. It's strangely satisfying to hear however. They're very similar but not replicas. Tracks like Purity Slaughtered manage to stomp on your testicles with familiar brutality and long melodic phrasing that really speak to this band's melodic gift.
It pains me to think that, had this production been what it needed to be, we would be talking a world-class, best of 2015-caliber album. The band's origin brutality has been made over with "nice" triggered drums and unending bassy-bass, but it's still a tasty release of sometimes technical, sometimes melodic and all times brutal death metal, that has still has a nice aftertaste of that distinct Kronos flavor.