The Great Seal

This band has been carving out a C-level career for like the past 30 years and more, always walking in the shadow of early Candlemass and Solitude Aeternus while never managing to make a real standout album. There's nothing wrong with this album—in fact I think it is easily their best work—but there's just nothing really that grabs you about it. The playing and production are good enough, and new singer Kimmo Peramaki is the best frontman the band has ever had, but the songwriting just never does anything that makes you sit up and take notice. This is a lot better than their last album, and it goes down easy, but it's not all that good.