And, at first, it looks very much like that will be easily achievable. The wonderfully dramatic instrumental track ‘Ceremony’ kicks things off brilliantly; the whole drive and multi-layered sounds of the affair make it feel very enjoyable indeed. And it continues, right into the fantastic punk pop of ‘Woodland Hunter (Part I)’ and the charming pop melodies of ‘Here We Are (Family in the Hallways)’; an ode to Appleseed’s earlier sound. Unfortunately though, that’s about as good as it gets.

After that, the whole thing just loses pace. That’s not to say the rest of the album is bad, it’s just a bit of a let down from the opening three tracks and what Appleseed Cast are capable of. The rest of the album is full of pleasant indie pop songs, but that’s all there is to it. It just feels very flat, and unfocused.

When I first heard Appleseed Cast, I listened to the previous album, ‘Lost Songs’ and was blown away. For me, that album is the perfect mix of Emo, Post-Rock and Pop that they could have tried to make, (and ironically, it’s not a full album). The main reason, is because it’s all killer, no filler; something this album is incredibly guilty of. Yeah, there’s nice moments to have here in ‘Silas’s Knife’ and ‘Song 3’, but it’s not really until the very end that the album picks up pace again, and for a 55 minute album, having 20 minutes of average material slap bang in the middle doesn’t do Appleseed Cast any favours. Finale ‘The Clock and the Storm’ is equally dramatic to its introducing counterpart, but its effect is softened by how long it takes to get there.

So it would be safe to say that this is a bit of a disappointment. Compared to earlier work, this lacks the punch that made Appleseed so well respected and loved in the first place. I’ve desperately tried to see if this album improves with age. But sadly, the result still stays the same; Quantity over Quality.