What an incredible debut. This album has elements of Norwegian black metal, Swedish black metal, and technical death metal. This is about the closest thing to Opeth outside of Opeth themselves. There are some epic songs on here like "Celestial Completion," and then there are some shorter, more brutal songs like "Burial" and "Embraced". And rhythmically, Extol are all over the map--yet not to the point of it detracting from the song. The lyrics can be a little preachy at times (these guys are Christian), but in this style of music, I don't know too many folks who listen for the lyrics. Speaking of lyrics/vocals, they manage to incorporate both clean/singing vocals and growling/death/black metal vocals. This is one of the many factors that makes Extol an awesome band worth watching.
