Long, epic tracks and grating vocals? Yep, that's black metal. But the term black metal has become harder and harder to define, so many bands span more than just the black metal genre. I would say that Primordial is a gothic black metal band, they have more to their sound than just black metal. It's a melancholic and passionate sound, inspired by Celtic folklore. Irish gothic black metal. With that description, you have to listen, right? The vocals are what stood out to me on this album. I like the transition from the grating black metal sound to more of a raw, powerful bellow, it has a lot of emotion. There are some catchy riffs in here, so much so that you don't even notice that the song has gone on for more than seven minutes! There are seven tracks totaling 46 minutes, so there is definitely the sense of an epic tale here. One of my beefs is with the drumming, it kind of stands out more than it should. Especially on the first track, there is too much snare for my taste. It just clouds the guitars and vocals by adding too much noise. Maybe it's a production problem, but I know what I like, and that ain't it. Actually, it is by no means a huge problem, it just irritated me briefly. Another production problem happens in the vocals sometimes, every so often when the singer gets loud, you can hear that he is in a tiny room by a slight reverberation off the walls. It is a very slight problem, but I am picky and I notice these things. None of the problems outweigh the good elements, and they are easily overlooked. The production just gets a little "dirty" at times, but I can't stress enough that it is JUST A LITTLE bit. I can definitely see myself listening to Primordial on a regular basis, if you are like me and are a fan of long, epic tracks that keep you involved for their entire length, then you will be as happy as I was with "Storm Before Calm". I enjoy a good, passionate album with lyrical themes that you can lose yourself in. Primordial has done just that with this, their sixth album. It comes highly recommended from Wrathchild (that's me, you jackasses).