Great. I hope they eschew the wankery that was prevalent on the last album.
Yeah I too thought it was a bit wanky. It was particularly disappointing because this band, more than most, seemed perfectly to grasp complexity without showmanship.
“Path of the Weakening” has its moments but “Reduced to Ashes” is their best work, I think. I also really like the non-pretentious narrative lyrics of tracks like 'The Endurance'. Come to think of it, along with Iron Maiden and Emperor's 'With Strength I Burn,' that's three tracks that use the sea as Romantic metaphor for the learning of (un)sacred truths. I suppose they represent death metal, heavy metal' and black metal takes on the question. Must be all that latent Coleridge reading, or in the case of Ahab (banish me!), Melville.