As with ILL OMEN's previous output, AE.Thy.Rift exudes an organic continuity within each song and across all tracks on the album, which is an outcome often not realized when multiple songwriters and musicians are employed. This consistency is achieved by the implementation throughout of dual bass guitar layers (one clean and one distorted), notably skeletal percussion, the churning, choir-like atmosphere of tremolo-picked guitars, and a blend of chanted, whispered, and traditional black metal vocals. The singularity of this release is further cemented by the lack of distinction in track titles, a characteristic which serves to present the album as a sum of inseparable parts. In other words, and especially given the ritual-like quality of the record in its entirety, it is safe to interpret each track as a necessary component of a collective opus whose individual pieces were not created with the ability to sustain themselves independently of the work as a whole. What most readily sets this particular release apart from previous ILL OMEN recordings is a more dedicated adherence to slower, more doom-oriented tempos, which are very well suited to this ceremonial variety of black metal. The listener may very well be left with the impression that this is the soundtrack in the mind of a disease-ridden being on its deathbed, at times feeling an almost celestial bliss at peace with the impending end of suffering, but at other times tormented by the physical and spiritual decay that will inevitably lead to its ruin.
