This second album from the ambitiously technical Maryland "djent" band led by guitar wunderkind
Misha Mansoor is the follow-up to their eponymous 2010 debut, on which they appeared seemingly out of nowhere to take the scene by storm and were hailed as "the future of metal". This, the first part of a planned double album, is the band's first release with live, rather than programmed, drums and no autotuning on the vocals, giving it a fiercer, rawer sound. It is also the first to feature their new guitarist
Mark Holcomb, and sports a number of orchestral arrangements in addition to a guest appearance from
Dream Theater's
John Petrucci, one of the band's heroes. ~ John D. Buchanan