Blood Stain Child's new releases- what happened?

Alright, here we go. Blood Stain Child is one of my favorite bands, full-stop. They helped to pioneer trance metal, created a string of five excellent releases, and though they've struggled in the past ten years Amateras was an incredible return to form. Silence of Nothern Hell was CoB and Nightwish blended to perfection. Mystic Your Heart was the same CoB-styled sound with trance and electronic elements that gave it a futuristic sheen. Idolator has one of the strangest, creepiest atmospheres of any melodeath album I've heard, placing the trance elements to the forefront and using them to put the listener in a cold, alien dystopia that they never knew they lived in. Mozaiq took that sound and made it a positive power play with an ecological and societal lyric focus. Epsilon was their mainstream breakthrough, featuring a female singer that, though she sadly left right after, blended bubblegum j-pop and melodeath in a way that- somehow- worked!

Then, five years later, they announced a double album-one with each half focusing on the trance and metal elements on their own terms. Those albums are out now.

I feel like I asked a genie for a new BsC album and he gave me this.

Both sides are half-baked, barely finished. Metalia brings back some of the earlier riffing, but those riffs are stale, half-cooked in an attempt to cobble together something fresh. Sadew, an amazing vocalist, sounds horrendous here. They have new female vocals that sound just as bad, even though she's trying her best. The songs are too simple but too long, and the electronic effects have been turned all the way up. Instead of being there to create an atmosphere like on albums 1-4, the tracks are full of overbearing 2010 dubstep noises that grate on the ear, of drilling saw synths that overwhelm the mix, of cheap Casio choirs and orchestras that previously haunted the original Nightwish demos. Nothing flows, very little works, and the ambition of the band I loved is gone.

Cyberia is even worse. This is BsC without the metal elements that make the mix intriguing. In its place is bad EDM that has been made by better, more focused musicians in that genre. You can find everything here, in a better form, from classics of the Trance genre from decades past. No, really- Trance is an amazing genre. Please, just find a classics playlist and jam to that. It's a better use of time than Cyberia.

So, I guess, I'm very disappointed in this band, and this album. There are rumors that this is their last, and I'd hate for that to be true. They're one of the most interesting, innovative bands in the genre, and even if they won't make another Idolator or Mystic your Heart, I thought at least they'd make something enjoyable. Better luck next time, guys. I know you have it in you.

If anyone reading this post hasn't checked the band out, I implore you to do so. They've made some wonderful, meaningful music over the years, and I want to support them, even if it is just through Spotify listens and streams.