Barren Altar's debut album is an album that is both impressive and left me a little disenchanted. 'Entrenched In The Faults of the Earth' is only comprised of five songs, with all but one clocking in over seven minutes in length. Make no mistake, Barren Altar have combined doom and black metal in a dank, mouldy stew that will drop you down and then kick you in mid-air to send you hurtling off into the beyond. I'm really impressed with the way that the band makes the sound feel so organic throughout the album. The issue that I ran into is that some of the tracks felt very disjointed. There are lots of tempo and time changes throughout the release and some are done well but the ones that miss the mark a little really end up hurting them. I would like to see things tighten up a little bit going forward and have the band find a way to merge the time and tempo changes a bit more seamlessly and effectively.
