The first post-Celtic Frost release from Tom Gabriel Warrior/Fischer sees an opening track of 11minutes duration and an aptly entitled ‘The Prolonging’ closer clock in at 19:22! In between these lengthy bookends, the remaining seven cuts are punishingly heavy, varying between ‘Shrine’ (at 1:43, the only song completed in less than five minutes) and 9:26 ‘Abyss Of My Soul’!

Apparently the circus surrounding the "loss" of his band has had a dramatic effect on Fischer’s productivity (particularly given how many years it took for him to finish what ultimately became Monotheist). Opening with an echoing monotone, ‘Shrouds I Decay’, moves slowly, like the lethal concoction coursing through a condemned prisoner veins, whereas ‘A Thousand Lies’ is the album’s focal point: aggressive, start to finish. ‘Progressive’ is not a word typically bandied about in reference to Fischer/Warrior/Celtic Frost, but if truth be known, those early albums WERE groundbreaking. In the same vein the piano introduced ‘My Pain’ features light, proggy instrumental sections and cooing female lead vocals. Death grunts and all, the rumbling behemoth, ‘The Prolonging’ concludes with a wall of feedback.