The provided songs function in the same sludgy atmosphere that Neurosis has eroded throughout their career, maybe dancing around an edge of minimalism or a perceived sense of something digestible, maybe even a little meditative. The opening "Prayer" summons seven minutes of corrosive guitar work nodding in and out of a hypnotic rhythm underneath tribal percussion, and the cut simply slithers in and out of a number of passages that flow in the same spectrum of sound. Overall not a bad tune. This blueprint is pretty much what the other tracks follow, albeit at different levels of content compared to the attractive opener. "An Offering," for instance, is a fatigued number compared to the other tunes; there's just not a pinnacle moment during "An Offering" that makes the listener gawk at the perceived product.

The title track, however, circles back to the success of "Prayer" with over ten minutes of neuroticism, whipping through acidic sections of redefined post-rock, crushing sludge, bombastic vocals and the usual experimental strangeness of Neurosis, all packaged neatly and ready to go. A good song, but it's quite a fragile piece compared to other epics like "To Crawl Under One's Skin" or "Purify" which trend through an array of emotions and colors, and that unnamable process has minimal impact on "Sovereign" and its collage of tunes. The instrumental "Flood" works as a cool transition between songs, but again, the extra nudge of power isn't as mighty.

The essentials are there, the writing sticks, the performances are tight and electric, but the threshold of brilliance is only slashed by the impending assault instead of blown to smithereens. "Sovereign" is an acceptable product that fully deserves the label of Neurosis despite the minor inconsistencies and general deflation inside of the EP, and overall it idles passively on what it is and what it demonstrates.