For those not familiar with the self-titled debut release, band founder Matt Smith composed all of the songs and performed all of the instruments (sans acoustic drums). Despite this deficiency the album was so well received that it became an instant classic and quickly went out of print. Fast forward to 2013, Theocracy has grown from 1 member to 5, released two stellar albums on Ulterium and the demand for a reissue/rerecording of the debut became a reality. As Smith points out in the updated liner notes the only thing new is a re mastering of the original recording with Shawn Bensons acoustic drums replacing the programmed drum sounds. These songs were already extremely good but now sound all that much more credible and powerful with a real timekeeper at the helm. Bensons style is well suited to the majority of this speedy power metal. And while he has clearly expanded upon the basic drum tracking, he has done so in a manner as to not disrupt the original flow of the music. Reissues rarely add much to the original  especially when the original was near perfect  but in this case these songs can now be heard the way they were originally meant to be recorded, transforming a classic of epic Christ-centric power metal into a masterpiece.