The first half of this ambitious black metal double LP plummets into the void: Opener "Wreath" dives down with an unholy combination of looping riffs, marathon drum fills, and belly screams that sound like tectonic plates shifting. It comes as a surprise, then, when Part Two draws back, showcasing the band's prog chops as singer Mikael Åkerfeldt surveys a Brugel-esque landscape in his clear, mournful tenor. "In My Time of Need" adds doleful, gothic strings, and "Windowpane" builds to a misty-eyed guitar solo worthy of Stevie Ray Vaughan.