I'm going to listen to this puppy tomorrow, but from what I've heard so far, they're finally doing what I've always said they should do: They're writing cohesive songs. I was a huge A7X fan until City Of Evil... I always thought they wrote great parts, and just randomly glued them together.

They made it clear early on that their influences were primarily GN'R, Metallica, and Pantera.. and, while you could always hear that in their music, they seemed to always be lacking the one thing that separated those bands from the pack: Solid, memorable tunes. They had the style, and the attitude... The music was more or less forgettable. I'm hoping the good things I've heard about this record aren't just the usual A7X hype. While i kinda miss the metalcore aspect, they've been around for a while now, gone through some severely difficult shit, and it would be nice to see them finally attain their desired status among those greats... And that's really the only thing, IMO, that's held them back.