A review I pulled from somewhere else:
I've had the album since the leak [and now bought it] and I can say that I was very impressed with the album after being slightly subdued with Frances the Mute.
If you're looking for something resembling De-Loused in the Comatorium, this isn't exactly it: This album covers such a wide spread of genres it's hard to classify it as anything but progressive. The whole album does not appear to have a storyline such as the preceding albums, but moreover motifs about religion, dealing with the fear of god, possessed nuns and all sorts of ****.
Anyway, I was initially very impressed with the first two opening tracks. Vicarious Atonement is a soft opener, but the last two minutes bridging into Tetragrammaton are epic, as are the first two of the latter. Tetragrammaton goes on to be one of the best songs on the album, although being a little too drawn out, almost like they don't know when to stop [don't worry, it's not boring]. Masterful guitar work, this is the Cassandra Gemini of Amputechture.
I know a lot of people that were disappointed with Vermicide, as it's the shortest, most mainstream song of the album; I'm surprised it wasn't the first single. However, it's a great song, having that The Widow feel, but not overly dramatic, and with awesome guitar.
Meccamputechture is the centerpiece of the album, and may be the most progressive song too. I didn't like this song at first, but it grew on me: There isn't much guitar, Omar seems to be embracing other instruments and effects. Cedric seems to have this whole lyrical motif about Amputechture going on, and his vocals build the song. The song breaks down into a two-minute freeform instrumental with flutes and saxophones and then ends with Cedric bellowing "It lacks a human pulse" until a particularly harmonious ending.
Asilos Magdalena is a primarily acoustic song sung in spanish. It has that soft latin vibe but is not the slightest bit tedious to listen to as Omar's guitar work is as melodious as ever. The song ends with a crescendo of fuzz buildup, that eventually leads to light drum and bass electronica that serves as the leadup to Viscera Eyes. Viscera Eyes is definitely the most straight-up rocker of the album for the first four minutes [I've used it to pump me up for sports events for weeks now], definite single material. The latter half of the track singals a tempo change to latin guitar work and eventually a great guitar solo with the highest vocals I've ever heard from Cedric.
Day of The Baphomets and El Ciervo Vulnerado are my two least favorite tracks on the album, but still not entirely bad. Day of the Baphomets begins with a bass solo and then relies on a bass line for almost the duration of the track, occasionally switching off into side arrangements. Very nice breakdown chorus. El Ciervo Vulnerado closes the album in a very anticlimatic way, instead being soft-spoken with some utterly strange lyrics. I still have little clue about the stories this album is trying to convey. The song ends abruptly, supposedly on purpose. Is there a companion album on the way? Only time will tell.
Anyway, this album definitely meets expectations. It's better than Frances the Mute, but I still can't say I prefer it to DITC, which has a groundbreaking story and is a very constant album itself.
