Auch, this is one of those instances where you bite your knuckles because you can hear that the band really has worked for their music and actually play together – but BUT the production utterly sucks!

I don’t know if it’s down to a lack of funds or recording gear, or if the sound engineer was just deaf - but especially the guitars sound as if they were recorded through a toaster and the snare drum might as well be a cardboard box throughout most of the album.

A shame, really, because what does come through from this first release from Tyrkish Altona is a nuanced, progressive metal landscape inspired by Queensrÿche, the more progressive sides of Sabbath, Dio as well as middle-eastern sounds. The technical level is high without being too much.

Vocalist Vahdang is an acquired taste, I suppose, but he’s got a touch of Tony Martin which in my book isn’t half bad.

Honestly, I’d like to listen to this album with a real production – could be killer.