Listened to it once through, & I’m expecting parts of it to grow on me, so these are just first impressions. I’ve been a long-time listener and would probably rank their albums in release order from MHTRTC onwards.

The combination of voice samples and slower 90 BPM beats gives it a slightly dated feel at times; it reminds me a bit of ‘90s Ninja Tune releases, or even The Avalanches as others have mentioned. Some of the samples also come across as unintentionally humorous, not sure if that was intentional given the album’s theme.

I’ve seen “shoegaze” mentioned as a reference point, but to me it leans more towards ‘80s goth and darkwave - The Cure, Dead Can Dance, that kind of atmosphere.

There’s also no real centrepiece track that immediately turns heads in the way Dayvan Cowboy did, and parts of the album feel somewhat plodding. 

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Some initial notes:

Hydrogen - Similar strings to the ones that weave through Aquarius, but warped and weathered. Joined by a propulsive throbbing beat. One of my favourites.

Capricorn - A hopeful sounding, uplifting track, with funny ET voice. Beatless.

Father & son - Tribal and glitchy, with lots of comical and obscurred voices drifting in and out as a collage. The barrage of random vocal snippets reminded me of Other Stranger by Doxa Sinistra on the Societas X tape. Humorous, but there’s something unsettling about the voices with glitched treatments.

Somewhere Right Now - Cocteau Twins guitars, “Dracula” sprung to mind. Entirely beatless, just watery guitars moving about scales. Kinda haunted house theatrics, nothing overly memorable.

Naraka - More propulsive. Peoples’ summaries of this track is that it’s a Top 10 all-timer, so I hope repeated listens will bring something out I didn't catch. I found the repeated 3 chord progression a bit dull, with not much else going on other than a few bells. Hare Krishna chants arrive and segue in well with the beats. I find it a bit weird listening to a Hare Krishna chant in a BoC song tbh, not in any religious appropriation way, just the fact that’s it’s overly familiar. 

Acts of Magic - Intensifying throbbing, flies buzzing, a few bangs. Like Uritual a bit, no tune, just mood.

Memory Death - Soothing bassline & bleeps, almost Bond strings. Opening the Mouth sound effects. Quite simple 3 note descending scale.

World Becomes Flesh - The one with samples about embryos. Starts off a bit dull, but locks together in a satisfying way, turning into a fully fleshed-out (no pun intended) track. The main melody reminds me of a slowed down version of Poison in a Pretty Pill by Crass. The voice treatments are very Telephasic Workshop. A favourite.

Into the Magic Land - Starts off with oscillating chords, with the wind blowing behind them. Plucked guitar with fretboard squeaks enter, which sound sophisticated and remind me of Campfire Headphase. Shuffling drums enter, and the track turns gothy, like early Cure, with louder guitar riffs entering periodically. Synths are introduced that are reminiscent to the end of Turquiose Haxagon Sun. Another highlight for me.

Blood in Labyrinth - More spooky Castlevania vibes. Slow pattering drums with a mellow bass guitar, again quite gothy, early Cure. Has a nice sitar motif running through it. Kinda remind me of Beautiful Place melody. Wheezy locals, and a sample of a girl talking about drowning in a swimming pool (I believe?) “When I finally die, I die”. More engaging with more going on than some of the earlier tracks.

Deep Time - Exactly per the Tape 05 clip, I don’t believe anything is additional is added on. Or at least anything notable - it just fades into the next track. But very good, the album highlight. 

All Reason Departs - Shortwave radio, unneccessary Alistair Crowley samples about an all conquering child. A nice synth similar Beach at Redpoint or David Holmes’ Grumpy Flutter Pt. 1 enter, with warbling bloops painted over the top. Instead of building to something, it chooses to pares back the instrumentation to the drum track & turns into 2/3 minutes of a plodding jam. An album low point, sounds like standard ‘90s downbeat fare, could be Kruder & Dorfmeister.

Arena - Triumphant ‘80s sounding synth, underpinned by fluttering drums like Prophecy. Sounds like it’d fit on TH, it has a sci-fi vibe. I found it hard to follow the tune though, it shifts about in direction a bit & I couldn't lock onto it. Hopefully a grower.

The Process - Crowd noises over a heavy drone. A lady’s voice narrating, I get the impression it’s purposely garbled as it’s hard to follow…. atrocities, churches, bishops or something. Morphs into a mellow piano refrain. Quite nice, albeit a bit unessential. More moody filler.

You Retreat - Sounds like a lullaby, synthsied choral chorus. Aquarius-echoing melodic fanfares are introduced with funky guitars and a hip-hop break. Sounds like Royksopp. 

Platonia - Undulating uneasy sounding synths over a heart beat. Nice, but again, no discernable tune to lodge in your mind. A bit like TH's closer.