Seventh album from the Israeli death metallers, with Tomas Lindberg (At The Gates) guesting on a pair of dozen tracks (although a trio are over in the blink of an eye: 2:03 ‘The Downfall Of Paris Pt. 1’, 47-second ‘Beast Lullaby’ and the 1:11 ‘I Hate Pigs’).

Unlike past efforts, Salem tone down the political angle (apart from the aforementioned Pig diatribe), in favor of a conceptual piece, although they really need to work on distinctive titles, as there’s two parts to each of the opening ‘Drums Of The Dead’ (with female backing), ‘The Downfall Of Paris’ (part one is just military snare and marching sound effect) and a three-part (!) ‘The Mark Of The Beast’, with Lindberg showing up for the last pair. Actually female voice can be heard on nearly half the tracks.