The disc starts with "The Companions," a rock-operatic melodrama that devolves into chaos — and turns out to be one of the more accessible tracks. "Helpless Corpses Enactment," an excursion into artsy black metal that finds lead singer Nils Frykdahl in full froth, and "Puppet Show," which is bellowed by what sounds like a cathedral full of monks on a Dark Ages kick, display a persistently quicksilver temperament. As for "The Widening Eye," it switches tempos and time signatures so often that the players should have worn neck braces for their own protection.
The disc is Glorious, all right — a glorious spectacle and a glorious mess.
