Singer Sol has a strained Robert Smith feel to his vocals. It is easy to imagine we are once again in the grey caves below Gormenghast for "The Awakening" which is a mid-paced fragment, with a faux-medieval feel. After two and a half minutes it slides seamlessly into the more bass heavy "We Are Here To Die". There's a feeling of hysteria - a "Wailing Wall" if Robert Smith had been into uppers, rather than downers. With the use of Middle Eastern scales this reminds me of The Wake. It's an interesting decision to have all the songs merge into one another – there are 19 of the buggers on this album – but with their brief running times there's less chance to get bored. It does mean that on the one hand you have little time for contemplation, but on the other a cogent world is created.

There's deep singing on "The Regret" which adds needed variety. Synthesised strings bring flavour. Some delightful chiming guitar ushers in "Open Scissors". The guitars ascend and circle in the air, playing aerial games with Sol's vocals. "The Puppet" is slower and less frantic. That's good news, as I need time to get my breath back. The filigreed guitar has a hint of the quieter moments of Fields of the Nephilim. Alternatively "Like A Shadow" sounds like the louder bits of Fields of the Nephilim. It's great when music takes flight like this. This would sound good in a club; the guitar work is plucking excellent. Elsewhere the brief "Flowers of Death" is propelled by a dirty guitar noise.

This album is a constant shifting tide of moods and sounds. "The Cry" shows the band's more sombre, funereal side. "The Ninth Sphere" is curiously underwhelming considering it's the title track. It has horror soundtrack aesthetics, which suggests an eerie scene. I might use it as inspiration if I were writing a scene when characters in a story were making their way up a hill, after dark, to the summit where they know a graveyard has been violated ... and that whoever committed the violation is waiting. Fans of zombies, make your way straight to "Undead", which has lyrics such as: 'My heart doesn't beat, but I can walk/I feel dead but I'm alive.' I've picked these lyrics from the album sleeve as this song's woozy atmosphere means that words are hard to pick up by listening alone. "Undead" features some dextrous bass and some atmospheric whooshing sounds. Spooky!

"The Nine" features the 'deep' singing we saw on "The Regret". I like this style of vocals and would like to hear more of it. "Morning Sun" suffers through poor production. Sol's vocals need to be higher in the mix. While I love echo this is one time I'd like to hear everything clearly. The words are simple but effective: 'I know today is so late to tell you about love...' It's the sound of The Eternal Fall emerging from caverns into the daylight for the first time. "Love Song" is another unexpected highlight. The mixture of church organ and simple drums forms the basis for Sol's plaintive cry: 'I am in a labyrinth with no exit...'. "All And Nothing" sounds like an out take from The Cure's Disintegration album, with its mixture of chorus-filled guitar and sustain-engorged organ. "The Farewell" brings things to a close, musically mirroring "The Awakening" and completing the circle.

At just over an hour this album is certainly value for money. At times it can seem like a penance, but your perseverance will be rewarded. There is beauty here, but sometimes you must make your way through the murk to find it. Sometimes The Eternal Fall's ambitions aren't matched by their production, hardly surprising considering these songs were recorded on a tight budget in a home studio. Still you have to work for the best things in life. It's easy to see whose influences the band display, yet there has long been a need for bands 'in the style of...' Recommended for those long Autumn evenings.