Fractured Millenium – 5/5 – Probably the greatest opening track of all time. Simply a masterpiece. Mid-paced, great lyrics, great guitar riffs, and a killer bass sound. If you ever have the chance to see these guys live, go see the show and pray that they open with this song. It will be the highlight of your concert-going experiences, I guarantee it.

Apocalyptic Hybrid – 5/5 – Opens with one of Lars Szoke’s trademark drum beats and goes into overdrive with Peter grunting and sounding a lot like Masse Broburg. Nice solo, too.

Fusion Programmed Minds – 5/5 – This song reminds me of some of the work on Catch 22, but with better production. Great chorus and guitar work.

Elastic Inverted Visions – 10/5 – Without a doubt my favorite song on the cd. It starts out with a clean guitar riff and then moves into a mid-paced heavy song. Not a weak point in the whole song.

Reversed Reflections – 5/5 – This song sounds much more Gothenburg than the other songs on this cd. Some clean vocals here that sound a lot like Peter’s sideproject Pain.

Until the End – 7/5 – Imagine the emotion you get when attending the funeral for a good friend. If you have never had to feel this emotion, listen to this song. The feeling captured in this song is just incredible. It is a slow song, but very heavy.

Paranormal Mysteria – 5/5 – I really love the lead guitar parts in this song. Very nice use of keyboards and vocal harmonies.

Time Warp – 5/5 – No, not the song from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Another fast song. Peter tries something new with the vox on this one. Really cool solo here.

Disconnected Magnetic Corridors – 6/5 – Yet another great song here. Slow, to mid-paced with lots of nice guitar melodies and clean vox. Probably my third favorite after Elastic Inverted Visions and Until the End.

Paled Empty Sphere – 5/5 – Another slow song. Very melancholic feel to this one. It has the feeling of death, but with a sense of defiance. The closing song on the standard release, and a very fitting end to a great album. The lyrics are fantastic.

Selfinflicted Overload (Bonus Track) – 5/5 – This song was a bonus track included on the digipack version of the album. A great song that would have been a bit more at home on Catch 22, but good nevertheless.

Overall, this album is a great addition to any collection and is a great introduction to Hypocrisy. The production is flawless and the cd has some of the strongest songwriting you’ll ever hear. A point of interest is that Hypocrisy’s next work, Into the Abyss, was originally scheduled to be released with this as a double album.

There are guitar solos on this that are very good and fit songs appropriately. There are definitely More Thrashed out moments and it is very bottom heavy Produced making it sound thicker. This works well with the down-tuned guitars. As stated previously, nothing out of the ordinary musically but its executed tightly and with a no holds barred approach.

‘Doom’, ‘Unleash’, ‘Blood, Fire, War, Hate’ and ‘Enemy Ghost’ absolutely kill and are in the same league as anything ‘Lamb of God’ does but has that Max inflicted flavor. ‘Paranoia’ is a killer mid paced number. ‘Touching the Void’ has a real slow-creeper sound reminiscent of Soulfly meets Sabbath. Well done but could have been edited down a little at the end. And ‘For Those About To Rot’ is a decent track with a touch of Brazilian/Tribal flavor.

Those are my favorites, but other tracks hold well. People who like the Roots and Remains era of Sepultura will definitely enjoy this over older Soulfly discs. Max Cavelera seems to be coming full circle with the thrash metal stylings of old at this point. Brutal.

That said, those who liked Soulfly’s debut and more nu-metal approach wont enjoy this as much. But doubt many will admit to liking that era anyway. There aren’t nearly as many skip-able tracks as there were on ‘Prophecy’ and ‘III’.

I would totally skip the ‘Soulfly VI’ track at the end. It is a terrible way to end the album. Instrumental and does not fit in the context as the rest of the disc. I understand trying to stick in something different, but it is unwarranted.

Cavalera Conspiracy and veteran Sepultura fans should have this though. Really they all go together anyway. It is Heavy as hell. Just don’t expect anything earth-shattering or new and you wont be disappointed. Also, be sure to listen more than once.

The album starts with a bang, “The Bit” is classic Melvins, full of powerful riffs and contrasts between brooding eerie verses and huge choruses. The album then takes its experimental turn, as from “Hide” to “Cottonmouth” it is difficult to make out any songs with standard structuring. Examples of this include “The Bloat” which starts with some old school slide guitar, then strips down to a sumptuous melodic bass line and some rather contrasting angry vocals. “Black Bock” starts almost like a kindergarten song, but then erupts into a swirling psychedelic closing section, full of lush vocal harmonies and trippy guitars. “Buck Owens” is another confusing song, with twisting rhythm and timing changes, almost like the band is experimenting with a warped take on prog metal. Fans of the Melvins’ dirge will not be disappointed here, especially with “Goggles”, a thunderous snail-paced tour-de-force of Buzzo’s riffing.

Overall if you like grunge/post-grunge/stoner stuff, this album should appeal to you. If you like your music with a deal of experimentation it will definitely be worth your time, but for others who want something a little more straight laced, you’ll be best to stick with the more accessible Melvins work, such as “Bullhead”, “Houdini” and “Stoner Witch”.