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The only other Alastis album I've heard in its entirety was the debut, although I was well aware they changed drastically from the early Samael sound, so this wasn't that big of a shock...Surprisingly, I didn't think this was all that bad, especially compared to the other '90s Century Media staple acts that underwent big stylistic changes. It's competent dark metal. Keys are used for some atmosphere but they're not terribly intrusive, and they don't really throw in any outside influences that make this a mutant musical hybrid. It's definitely not as gothic as later Moonspell, Tiamat, or mid-era Rotting Christ, it doesn't have the non-metal influences of later Tiamat, and it doesn't have the electronic/industrial influence of later Samael. Ironically, a lot of the material here brought Samael to mind (to coin a term I saw elsewhere, "Samael-lite"), even though this isn't really directly comparable to any era of Samael. Stripping the black metal elements, budding electronic/industrial elements, and more pronounced vocals from Ceremony of Opposites and Rebellion era would be my best approximation.
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