Wonderfully clear guitars, a mystical atmosphere, profound melodies, lots of speed variations and a hissing voice characterize the opening piece Cleansing Of The Ancient Spirits. This approach shows that MAGOTH are not content with a stupid knocking down of wreck orgies, but have a fine sense for variety and interwoven harmony.
Clearly, a clankingly cold, furiously angry doomsday mood dominates, but the band cleverly places small resting points to not degrade the rage to a mere end in itself. Dark guitar tones appear during Indoctrination War, later catchy leads enrich the epically expansive Der Toten Gesang, in which even sluggish sequences fit in well and provide dynamics. Some almost unnoticed time changes give Mental Fortress a complex touch and the heavenly leads are reminiscent of Grand Masters like Unanimated.
The energetic Thorns pushes his acoustic barbs into the ear canals of all lovers of fast-paced black metal art, but here too the experienced musicians take back the tempo a bit in the middle section, only to revive the inferno from this resting phase. Consciously dissonant tone sequences leave an unpleasant yet emphatic impression in your memory before a manic finale is a delight.
The outstanding hit on this frenetic album is called Sheol and has that certain something with galloping rhythms and wonderfully gliding, sometimes melancholic melody curves. The simple, intensely screeched chorus is the crown of the composition.
The thrust, shown through forward pushing aggressiveness mixed with subtly effective lead guitars convinces on this work over the entire playing time, so that all friends of black metal performed at lightning speed will have their diabolical pleasure with Anti Terrestrial Black Metal.