First post and first review of the year. Maybe I can attack this review a bit differently, but I won’t know until after I’m done writing it.
After hitting play, my first impression is here comes the heavy rock and roll. Serpents of the Sun starts strong with the guitar riff in the forefront. A good way to start the album off. The title track takes slot number two. The tempo downshifts, but still holds the heavy riff. I like the composition of the verses, as it has that kind of back and forth with the guitar and vocals, and it let’s the drums breathe. Cydonia Mensa has a short a tasty guitar solo to boot.
The Sacred Light opens with guitar and a bit of cowbell. Cowbell is always risky to use, but done effectively here. I like how the chorus goes lower with a bit of grumble in it. I dig the drum and bass verse, but I wish the bass would have been notched up a bit at the moment.
A bit of middle-eastern-ish ambience opens up Monuments. The riff reflects that, minimally. I love the synth or organ sound hovering in the background. Definitely feel the psych journey in this track.
Temple of Saturn has that retro-riff feel. Love the subtle echo of the vocals ringing back in just the right way. I kind of dig the drum sound. Mainly the kick sound. Pronounced but not compressed sounding, and it has more of an old school thud.
Redeemer hits fast, or at least in perception. Three-fourths the way through, and the riffage is pretty consistent and flows well song to song. This one feels more straightforward rock.
Acoustic guitar starts Evolution Garden with some electric whispering in the background. Kind of folk-psychadelic sounding. Minimalist approach on the drums and percussion. This works well for the song.
Illumination of Knowledge closes the album. Organ pumps the start and is disintegrated into a heavy riff. Vocals start off semi-chantlike and morph throught, going into a more melodic and then soft spoken sound as the song progresses. The riff itself has that circular but swirling feeling. It pushes and pulls. I was not expecting bongos to close out the track, much less the album.
Cydonia Mensa is a solid rock journey with some moments of psych and folk sprinkled in. Standout track for me is Illumination of Knowledge. It’s kind of the culmination of the album. This album was released back in April 2025, but still worth checking out this year.
slow draw is... 