I have never heard the Quill prior to listening to this CD, but out of the albums I was supplied to review, this one was a gem. One thing that is noticeable from the very start is that the production on this album is stellar. Everything is clear, the drums are punchy, the guitars are load and roaring. Everything sounds very vibrant and clear yet in your face and rough. This effort is chock full of bluesy, catchy, heavy riffs that drive the grooves of the album straight to your skull.

The vocals of Magnus Ekwall absolutely impressed me and trust me … I am extremely picky when it comes to singers. When I pop in any CD, the vocals nearly make or break my entire opinion on the effort. His voice is overall fairly clean with a tinge of harshness to it. Many times when he hits certain notes he, to me, sounds identical to former Soundgarden vocalist, Chris Cornell yet with a more melodic style. It’s strange, but I think if you take the melodic singing style of TNT’s Tony Harnell and mix it with the vocal tone of Chris Cornell, you pretty much have Magnus.

The album is bluesy, hard-riffed and driving, but has its fair share of hooks, melody and catchy choruses. ‘Keep The Circle Whole’ is an outstanding, high-octane and the songs progressively seem to get better and better with the first half of the CD, meeting its climax with ‘Broken Man’ which I found stuck in my head for days after listening to this album.

As the CD progresses towards its second half it dips down a bit in momentum and quality, but I think this is only because the first half is so solid that it’s difficult for the second half to compare. Overall, this is a fun, rocking effort with great riffs, great vocals and awesome songwriting (especially the first half). I definitely suggest this to anyone that is a fan of bluesy metal with good vocals or even stoner metal. I have a feeling that this band has yet to release their definitive album.