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Never thought I would see the day. Scald released their magisterial Will of the Gods is Great Power in the dim days of 1996, and shortly after that the band broke up after vocalist Agyl was killed in an accident. They were nonexistent for over 20 years, finally reforming in 2019 with the ubiquitous Felipe Kutzbach (Deströyer 666, Procession) on vocals, and now we get a full-length album after 28 years.

I was worried we would get an unworthy follow-up, after so long, but the riffs and songwriting are as solid as ever. This has a much fuller, more modern production, and the band sounds huge, with big, crunching epic riffs. This does not reach the heights of Will of the Gods... but it is good. The one real drawback is Kutzbach, who sounds pretty much the same as ever, which means he is neither great nor terrible. He doesn't sound like Agyl and to his credit he doesn't try to, but the vocal melodies here are just not up to the drill. After the haunting, unforgettable melodies of the first album, the bar was high, and these are a poor approximation. These melodies are not awful, but they are repetitive and not at all catchy or memorable. If this album had really good vocal lines it would be so good, but as it is, it is an album of sometimes brilliant music saddled with vocals that are merely adequate.