There a few things wrong with this release. First, the production is terrible. Second, the instruments sound bad. Third, the vocals sound very tired and uninspired. Fourth, It's too damned long.
The production value is very low on this album. It takes away from the ferocity of the album. If they were trying to go for atmosphere, well, they messed up. Too much atmosphere makes a bad production job.
I don't know if it's the production or what, but the instruments are muddled. They seem to come together and make a messy and displaced sound. Those fucking guitars man. What was Dave Suzuki thinking when he was making this album? I heard little to no lead in this album. It's just Tony Lazaro playing his "rhythmic" riffs about 50 times or so in a row. I think Lazaro was feeling a little stupid after the amazing job Suzuki did with the lead in Dechrsitianize. He probably wanted to be cool and said "I can do that too". No, you can't Tony. Just disappear into obscurity, like a good rhythm guitarist. And what with the extreme downtuning? Tuning your guitars down to B doesn't automatically make you a 'tr00' death metal band. You were fine with tuning in D when you made Dechristianize, weren't you? Now for the drums. They sound like empty, hollowed things that were beaten into obscurity. (Yes, I know that's what the definition of 'drums' usually is, but these 'drums' have a sound rivaling that of Lar$' trash cans on St. Anger, just a little bit lower and more in the background.) The bass, you ask? What bass? Those guitars are so downtuned, they make their own bass. Who needs bass in an album like this?
Glen Benton is getting old. It shows with this album. Those vocals are by far his worst performance. Yes, they are even worse than In Torment In Hell and Insineratehymn. They are so uninspired and tired that you can taste the blandness of the vox after every song. It's not a good taste.
I don't mind a good long album, not at all. But this is not 67 minutes well spent. They turned what should have been maybe 50 minutes into over an hour. It feels like one whole song, just broken up into parts. The 20% I gave to this album came from liking the intro, just because it made me laugh, and Hammer Down The Nails. That song is actually listenable. I actually found myself headbanging to it.
You know what though? I can still say I'm a fan of Vital Remains. I loved all of their previous works. If you're just getting into Vital Remains, however, steer clear of this release. Hell, just steer clear of this album in general. If you want good VR, check out Let Us Pray and Dechristianize.