this album, as said by others, is lacking some of the raw energy of previous relases. however this is balanced out by having a more refined smooth sound- more soaring, more matured lyrical content to a degree- a fuller, if not quite as steeply pitched enegry. in truth there is one thing that i’m annoyed about on this album; some of the songs have very abrupt endings where a fade or a pause at the end would seem to fit better.