"This is the most brickwalled Opeth album (I compared them all), and it really shows. The master on this album is just utterly horrible, and frankly it is grating. Unacceptable, really. Unfortunate because it could have been good, otherwise." (bardberic, ★★☆☆☆☆☆, )
"Arguably the best Opeth release overall. Everything comes together beautifully here, magnificent extreme metal with ghastly growls and serene melodies, harmonized in a peculiar symphonic way that is uniquely Opeth." (Mike, ★★★★★★★, )
"Decent music, but the vocals suck and are too distracting to make listening to this enjoyable." (rushfan4, ★★★★★☆☆, )