Spanning 15 tracks, the self-produced album clocks in at 78 minutes and finds frontman Claudio Sanchez returning to the conceptual science-fiction narrative of The Amory Wars, a story Sanchez has sought to tell through his music, a novel, and a comic book series.

The band’s previous album, 2015’s The Color Before The Sun, was the first to deviate from the narrative, and this reinvigorated return to the story marks what’s, in this writer’s opinion, their best album in a decade. It’s got hooks galore and a compellingly bombastic tone that matches the grandeur of Sanchez’s narrative, which brims with a healthy dose of heart.