This stuff made a big splash in metal/alternative circles when it came out. Metal was in a weird spot at the time. Nu-metal had shat itself and lost its edge in favour of radio rock (see: Linkin Park, SOAD), and the older US bands (eg. Metallica, Slayer, Pantera) were dead in the water. The bigger metal bands at the time were Nevermore, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Opeth etc - European or heavy euro influence, no mainstream (or even "big alternative") interest. Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Trivium etc - all had promise, and the likes of Pitchfork etc took notice, but they kinda blew it imo. The idea of blending In Flames/At The Gates with Machine Head was a good one, but with these guys in charge it just all ended up sounding too soulless and *American*. It's 90% hardcore breakdown/screaming and 10% melody, when it should be more of a 50/50 mix. Eventually they discovered the other 5 strings on their guitars and a better singer (with the most metal name ever in Howard Jones), but this is... pretty meh. In all honesty, the best thing to come from this album is The End of Heartache (an easy 4/5) and the likely inspiration for Robb Flynn to snap out of it and write Through the Ashes of Empires. 3/5.