Reluctant Hero
by Killer Be Killed

Dec20. 'Deconstructing Self-Destruction' into 'Dream Gone Bad' is an epic opening to the album. They are both very Mastodon-like gems. I especially love the changes of pace and shit-hot drumming in the latter. A song should not be allowed to be this heavy and catchy at the same time. It is a pretty relentless first half in fact.
The following three tracks maintain the heaviness. 'Filthy Vagabond' has some cool crowd chants, solid riffing and massive shredding. I'm not overly fond of long songs usually, but 'From a Crowded Wound' arrives at the right time on this album and takes the listener on a journey (as long songs should). It has slow moments and some of the heaviest too: that huge riff and screamed vocals about 2/3s of the way through.
'The Purge' has some mellow, Deftones-like vocals in parts. 'Comfort from Nothing' is sludgey and doom-laden, and settles into a groove that Cavalera's bands do so well. At just over a minute long, I was expecting 'Animus' to be a little intsrumental interlude or lead-in to the next track, but it was not. It is a hard-hitting song all to itself.
'Dead Limbs' has some slow atmospherics and another to highlight Ben Koller's drumming. It's different to see the title track as the last on the album. And is slows things right down too. It has a real haunting element to it. A very satisfying end to a cracking album. In fact, the sequencing of this overall is good. This is my level of heaviness. Thoroughly enjoyed this. 4.5/5