If this is the greatest album ever, then I'm Mickey fucking Mouse.

I've only heard one time through, so I'm going to reserve judgement for now but I will say the album is not bad. So far it's about average, nothing special. I know Opethfan will have my head for even thinking about actually listening to this and not proclaiming the greatest thing ever before ever letting it sink in, but that's the way you should do these things.

A few observations though

The production is very, very slick. Too slick in fact, it's processed like a motherfucker.

Akerfeldt's singing is pretty good, and really feminine in parts. His growl is as always, excellent.

The drums sound really great in places and also bland as shit in others, inconsistent.