At the time of this album, the band was looking for new ways of making an epic sound and, basing their assessment perhaps on black metal listeners who simultaneously chanted "simpler, rawer" and "more keyboards," Graveland cut an album of long, repetition, loosely layered songs that seems hasty in both vision and product. It is an admirable attempt, and there is good stuff on here, but the density is not there, and thus intensity is sparse enough to fail to keep the interest of an alert listener. Please, do not ruin yourself as a Graveland fan, buy this one last; in the meantime, "The Celtic Winter" is probably the experience you seek.