Yes, I know a lot of people hated this one but I liked it. I turly feel this is their last. I saw this as a "Where's all grown up now" album. It was far more mature than the albums of the past. While its predecessors were very good, this album was very well written. And lyrically, the album was far better. compare "Seek And Destroy" with "Unforgiven". S&D sounded like something written on a notebook in highschool.

I truly feel now is the time to appreciate this album given the recent slew of crap this band has put out and will most likely continue to release untill they hit the grave.

To this day I still say the Black album was their last good album. While S&M wasn't too bad, every album since Load was underserving of the name "Metallica" on the album. They should have changed their name.

Someone once told me "They've been around for a long time, what else were they supposed to do?". I say, Continue with the metal! Hell, Megadeth did, Iron Maiden did, King Diamond did. Even Judas Priest did. This album was nothing but a media hounding tool used to trick young fans into buying something that sucked and by the natural effect of both peer pressure and loyalty, force them to deny the very suckiness that they just dumped their hard earned money into.

Anyone who truly has an open mind and spent money on this crap would be freely able to admit that they were ripped off.

One thing I have always loved about COF is the very liberal lacing of keys throught their music. While this album is nothing less that I would expect from Dani and the crew..... Where The Hell Is Martin?!?!

The former member of My Dying Bride (Now also former member of COF) seems to have taken a vacation in the recording of this album. Word of advise to Dani: To balance the forces in the universe, on the next album, double the amount of keys with the new guy.

I picked this album up direct from the label Dark Valley Records. All in all, it's a very good and well put together album. The recording quality is a bit rough but not bad. The CD is a fully loaded, enhanced disc. Complete with a flash presentation and music video for "The Dead". The main vocalist, Die Winters, is a chick... but she growls! I don't know how she does it nor how that sound can come from a woman, but she gives a lot of growling metal bands a run for their money. This band also uses a live violin. Although using classical instruments seems to be a growing trend, it's not yet trendy so these guys are hitting the scene at just the right time. Thier sound it hard to classify, some songs have traits of Black metal, Thrash, Hardcore and Goth. They even have a very pop sounding song "Autumn", which still contains a heavy chorus.

Another thing I noticed is there is no track 7. There's only two seconds of silence and it goes right to track 8. I'm not sure why they did this, maybe they have a vendetta against the number 7, ha ha.

In closing, definatly keep an eye out for these guys and if you're looking for heavy music to scare trick-or-treaters with, this is it.