I had not heard of Locrian, but this seems to be their debut CD release. The label explains that they have been active since 2005, "finding the right blend of noise, power electronics, dark ambient, and black metal to work into their sound." OK, with track titles like "Barren Temple Obscured by Contaminated Fogs," you can see some of the black metal influence. I must admit that I am not a huge fan of black metal, but I am a huge fan of noise, dark ambient, and power electronics, so three out of four shouldn’t be bad. Overall, I would have to call this one a mixed bag. Locrian does a pretty good job of trying to build an atmosphere, but in some places it becomes a bit cheesy, for example, the screaming throughout "Barren Temple Obscured by Contaminated Fogs," which I find to be overdone in most tracks like this. However, on others, such as the 30 minute long "Greyfield Shrines," they do a great job of building tension and atmosphere without resorting to horror movie samples and the like. Moreover, this seems to be the only track that really approaches anything I would call noise, as the guitars and voice blend into drone and feedback. I would say it is way too long, but nicely done. This would be a decent start for someone into metal who was looking for a bit more slowed down guitar oriented experimental sound, although those who are looking for noise, power electronics, or dark ambient in the vein of Lustmord or anything coming out on the Cyclic Law label will be disappointed. This disc is limited to 1000 copies and weighs in at 64 minutes.