Reviews: Beyond Salvation, Seven Crowns, Dark Divine, On Borrowed Time (Matt Bladen)

Beyond Salvation - The Final Nail (Self Released)

Manchester thrash/groove act Beyond Salvation deliver The Final Nail with their debut album.

If you're a fan of Machine Head, Sylosis, Trivium or Hatebreed then you'll be banging your head the instance Descending Into Darkness gets going with the technically impressive, bludgeoning modern thrash metal, inspired by the sounds of the US mid-2000's scene.

With three EP's under their belts, The Final Nail is their debut full length and it's a real bruiser of a debut, the blistering Incarcerate, exactly the sort of track that will go down a storm live, speed, precision and power that will get pits moving for sure, while the Title Track has a stomping groove to it that shifts to atmospheric realms.

Their skill should not be a surprise as Jon Pedley (vocals/rhythm), Arun Kamath (lead), Luke Entwistle (bass), and Owen Ashworth (drums), have been moulding their technical thrash/death/groove hybrid for a few years now, a very D.I.Y unit all the band members has a had in producing the album, which sounds meaty and aggressive from the first seconds, but its also slick and polished as Lee Calpee handles the mastering.

Gaining new followers and thrashers with each show, be it Bloodstock or supporting Shrapnel and Krysthla, they have been taking the UK by storm and have translated a lot of this live ferocity into their debut, as rapid pace riffs on tracks such as the melodeath-like Cleansing or the hardcore punch of Scorned, soon switch gear into neck wrecking breakdowns on Broken Reflections, the drumming always intense, the riffs burly and the solos a widdly as you want.

While not a concept album there is a loose theme to the album charting "an individual’s journey of self-reflection" which leads to some emotionally driven vocal shouts the choice to leave off the clean vocals that so many bands bring now, a positive move as it would dilute the power of the record in my opinion.

Beyond Salvation's album may be called The Final Nail but its just the beginning of the story for this impressive UK metal outfit. 8/10

Seven Crowns - Haunted Head (Pale Wizard Records)

20 years ago a punk band from Bath played their first ever show in New York City in support of Subhumans. Since then they have circumnavigated the globe with some of hardcore punks best and loudest, but rarely set foot on a stage in their native country, perhaps because the music scene in Europe and South America still has that D.I.Y ethos, and punk as genre is all about rebellion, so will be much better appreciated inside a Venezuelan toilet venue than any Live Nation branded enormo-dome.

Haunted Head is their fourth album and it comes from a place of immense sadness, born out a time where many of the bands loved ones passed away, they recorded the album with Josh Gallop in Stage 2 Studios in Bath, returning home to convalesce in the loudest way they can to create a way to work through their grief with some music they call “heavy as fuck psychedelic punk” now that seems a weird description but it is very accurate to what Seven Crowns deliver here.

The industrial synthesisers bubbling up at the beginning of the title track, the sludgy, heavy groove riffs, dragging their self to life, as the raw throated screams come it to exorcise those demons and celebrate their lost loved ones. Seven Crowns also celebrate musical diversity; their music is inventive using instrumentation that is a lot more expressive and interesting than many hardcore punk acts. Latin rhythms come on the drums and bass via NWOBHM gallops on Headstone, Side Effects goes from a shouty bounce into bass-driven industrial weirdness and angular guitars.

Ways To Be Gone and Acts Of Mindless are more like it if you’re a hardcore punk fan, as both have got that drive that will bring the spin kicks. However, Ways To Be Gone goes all desert rock in the middle to keep you guessing, Seven Crowns end this chapter with Some Are Broken, Some Are Lost as song that turns everything before around, a cathartic pseudo-ballad, it’s this punk collective releasing these feelings of grief for the final time. Haunted Head is not just a punk album, it’s a punk album from a band, who lay their hat abroad, coming home to celebrate family with music that never feels restrictive or reductive.

Seven Crowns’ fourth album and their collaboration with Pale Wizard Records, may just introduce a new listeners to punk music that can be, antagonistic and uncompromising while also being inventive and emotional. 9/10

Dark Divine - Undead Melody (Thriller Records)

There's been an upsurge in bands recently blending goth aesthetics, horror movie clichés and industrial driven metalcore. Brutal music, big breakdowns, fizzing electronics and a cinematic style that is obsessed with slashers and the undead.

Motionless In White, Ice Nine Kills and Mister Misery are all a part of this "spooky core" scene and now coming out of a Halloween Horror Night at Universal Studios it's Orlando band Dark Divine. They've recently been across the UK with Smash It To Pieces and it's on stage where they really show what they can do through an immersive live experience that is sure to please their fanghouls and fanghosts.

How does it translate to album though? Well on Undead Melody they don't have their visual elements so they're reliant on their music alone, which is good, I mean it's not groundbreaking but there's a much broader sound than you may expect from the emotional angst and processed beats of the title track to the brutality and breakdowns of Midnight Masquerade.

It's an album that draws from metalcore, post-hardcore and nu metal to create a hybrid sound that is very on trend right now. Undead Melody invites you to enter Dark Divine's Black Magic Kingdom. 7/10

On Borrowed Time - In The Dark Before The Dawn (Omen Records)

Melodic hardcore from Dorset now, as On Borrowed Time deliver their debut album In The Dark Before The Dawn, through Omen Records. Formed in 2018 they've been refining a style of melodic hardcore that is emotional and aggressive, richly layered in clean guitar lines, anything post-haedcore choruses and a gritty mix of hardcore and punk. 

On Borrowed Time are a band where all of the members are veterans of their scene having played in various bands before merging their talents here. It's this experience and understanding of their sound that means that this debut album arrives with a band instantly showing you who the band are. 

Preceded by several singles (all about them streams baby), In The Dark Before The Dawn begins with Twilight an instrumental intro that sets the tone for the whole album, it feels anthemic and insistent, from the snap of the snare, to the distorted riffs merging with melodic leads, it's a build into Burden which explodes like a track firmly plucked from the 90's skate scene, punk rock speed which breaks down into shoving aggression. 

They've been compared to Have Heart and Comeback Kid, these comparisons are hard to disagree with. For every punchy riff and shouty verse there's an ambient moment and an introspective chorus that's designed to be shouted back, the raw emotion distilled and put friendly breakdowns distilled with complexity in the compositions. 

If like and me and I assume them you were fed a diet of Kerrang/Scuzz TV and Tony Hawks Pro Skater growing up, then there will be a sense of nostalgia to this record but let me be clear, the style is reminiscent on In The Dark Before The Dawn but On Borrowed Time make sure their debut is contemporary and cathartic. 7/10

A View From Uprising 9 (Debby Myatt & Tony Gaskin)

Uprising 9, O2 Academy Leicester, 23.05.26

Over a decade ago, the seeds were sown when founder and guitarist of Leicestershire base grunge outfit Resin started putting on gigs under the name of Resin Events. He hooked up with proprietor of Firebug in Leicester, Matt Kirk, and after promoting the regions M2TM competition, they hatched a madcap plan to hold an all day event at the iconic De Montfort Hall in Leicester, and Uprising was born. 

It was an instant hit with Midlands metal and rock fans and apart from the obvious gap year, it’s now in it’s 9th edition. But this ten year anniversary is bitter sweet with the future of the event uncertain as the ownership of the current site of the festival, the O2 Academy, is being handed back to the Uni and it’s not clear yet what will happen with the site. We had a chat with Simon and he says talks are underway with a number of venues, so fingers crossed they can get somewhere sorted,

As for Uprising 9, the usual eclectic mix of rock and metal lay in wait for hundreds of metalhead from all over the country. There was going to be 17 bands over 2 stages and about 11 hours of head banging, and we managed to catch them all!

Very Metal Art Stage  

First up lets look at the Very Metal Art Stage that was located in the Academy 2 room and despite having the doors open to the patio area outside, it was already a sweat pit on one of the hottest days of the year!

Opening up were Break Them (7) who laid down some heavy hard core grooves with punishing intent, whilst straight after them rising stars Pryma (8) brought a confident stage presence and relentless energy that only served to increase the temperature in the already sweltering room.

As is the nature with Uprising we are completely flipped with the next band, Crowley (9), who despite a few tech issues with sound pummelled us with some gloriously dark gothic doom. From the darkly beautiful to the beautifully ferocious. Maatkare (9) bring us monumental death metal that brings the ancient world of the Egyptians alive with brutal riffs, guttural vocals and hypnotic rhythms.

Survivalist (6) had a band hand dealt to them with a long delay again with tech issues. They bravely laughed it off, but it was a long uncomfortable wait and seemed to knock the wind out of them, but hopefully we’ll see a different Survivalist when we catch them at Call Of The Wild.

Crowd favourites Gurt (9) were up next and the sludge lords happily picked the pace up again with an intensely groove laden set that got the room bouncing, we’d been going 5 hours now and barely time to catch a breath! It was the turn of Hawxx (8) to get the claws into our minds next, Punk tinged, alt rock is the best way to describe them. Powerfully emotive, unapologetically confrontational and no holds barred fury. A slick set justifying their place on this line up.

After a few hours of some very intense performances across both stages, it was good to just have a laugh and you’re guaranteed that with everyone's favourite punky thrashheads Lawnmover Deth (8) who brought the unique brand of humour to lighten the mood, it was a welcome dose of hilarity, before closing out the VMA stage with hard core legends Stampin’ Ground (10) who tipped the room over the boiling point with the old school hard core fury and aggression, it was literally raining sweat as the veterans showed that they still have the vim & vigour to mix it up with the youngsters, a brilliant end to a pretty full on day on this second stage.

Main Stage

Whilst the VMA stage was boiling over the Main Stage at the O2 was a tad cooler, but the bands would still have that fiery intensity, and first up were techy prog meisters Fractions (9) who got things going with a sublime set. The local lads have been quiet of late but were bang on form today with their complex layers of soaring vocals, intricate riffs and mesmerising drum and bass beats.

They were followed by another local legend, Tom Reynolds, otherwise known as Foul Body Autopsy (8), a one man death metal machine. A phenomenal guitarist who creates a cataclysmic wall of sound with his guitar, pedals, loops and backing tracks. At least the rider will be small! But seriously he’s one talented guy with an impressive catalogue of material.

There was a big emphasis on atmospheric and visual acts on the main stage today and Mayfire (8) have both in abundance. Monumental soundscapes and moody stage presence are the order of the day with this atmospheric black metal band from Norway who describe themselves as “cinematic” which we totally get, very Scandi Noir.

For visuals and performance there are not many around at the moment who can match Ward XVI (9). The stage setup is impressive and and the performance is straight out of the Alice Cooper book of rock theatrics. The maniacal minds of this dark horror band create a whole world and it’s grisly stories with which to entertain us, the big stage here is perfect for their show and even though they only have a half hour slot they cram so much in.

From the blood and gore of the asylum we are taken into a much darker place. An atmospheric gloom descends on the crowd as The Suns Journey Through The Night (10) creep into the darkest recesses of our senses. A complex wall of sound, raw and ritualistic from this black metal band, it has a dark beauty that will take your soul and leave you emotionally bereft. This sort of extreme metal is not for everyone, but get past the tags and pigeon holing and listen to the music that is being created, simply stunning.

From soul crushing black metal to heart wrenching flamenco and North African inspired alt rock in the form of Gibraltars greatest musical export Breed 77 (9). Their heavy rock incorporates the musical melting pot of their homeland making for a unique sound that is unmistakable and add in the soulful vocals of frontman Paul Isola overlaying those haunting guitar riffs and it makes for a beautifully heavy mix.

Another veteran band from the late 90’s early 00’s that has made a comeback in recent years are Essex boys InMe(8). They exploded onto the scene with their highly acclaimed albums Overgrown Eden and White Butterfly and soon had a strong loyal fan base. Frontman Dave McPherson wears his heart on his sleeve, his songwriting is powerfully emotive, full of angst, anger and hope. His vocals are unmistakable, a style that help them stand out from the crowd.

And finally, after a very long and very hot day, the culmination of a brilliantly curated day of rock and metal sees the return of a much loved, and you might even say greatly underrated industrial stalwarts Pitchshifter (10). They have achieved an almost cult status amongst their die hard fans and they treat us to a hour long set of their best tunes. 

You know it’s going to be a full on set when they kick off with Triad and Microwave two of their heaviest hitters! They finish off with a triple whammy of W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G., Please Sir and Genius the floor is bedlam, the crowd is hot, sweaty and very happy. That was a mad cap ride of pure chaos!

If this is to be the last Uprising then what a way to bow out, but at the time of writing these last few lines, Uprising have posted a couple of cryptic updates on their page, including a logo saying Uprising X and the date “10-04-2027”, so I guess the Uprising will continue. Metalheads assemble! We just don’t know where yet!!

Reviews: The Ghoulstars, Hysterese, Embrace Of Souls, Hellforce (Matt Bladen)

The Ghoulstars - The Dark Overlords Of The Universe (Season Of Mist)

Some Finnish horror metal/punk now with The Dark Overlords Of The Universe, from The Ghoulstars. Influenced by The Misfits, White Zombie and Murderdolls, there's a certain expectation coming into the record that is cemented with opener Too Ghoul For School thundering with schlock horror lyrics, wavy melodic guitars, big drum sound and gang vocals it's creepy, kooky, woozy and spooky. 

Emerging from the grave in 2021, they're something of a Finnish supergroup featuring members from Kuolemanlaakso, Hooded Menace and Thermate, their experience is second only to their fandom as The Dead In Purgatory is Morricone meets Volbeat as Zombie Apocalypse goes full Mr Only & Co. 

Inspired by an 80's VHS B-Movie aesthetic every song is brimming with retro gold lyrically there's more to it than just catchy references to 40 year old media, a few of the songs deal with personal and emotional issues but mostly this album is about fun and if ghoulish, horror punk rock gets you bouncing and wanting to paint a skull on your face then you'll get a lot out of The Dark Overlords Of The Universe. 7/10

Hysterese - Hysterese V (This Charming Man Records)

Hysterese have been cranking out riffs since 2009 which explains why this other the cult metal acts fifth album. 

They're a band who do things very D.I.Y, punk, metal, hardcore fan base the whole thing, the dual vocals and guitars of Helen Runge-Kehle (guitars/vocals) and Moritz Kehle (guitar/vocals) rage and roar, with the rhythm section of Lukas Anderer (bass/vocals) and Kai Hirt (drums) thunder with a raw pace that emerged from the garage. 

With album five though the band have done a bit of refining to their rough sound, with 80's sounding melodies on Love Hurts, sleaze on No Dreams, post punk on Nightfall, classic metal on Obsidian and even cover of Necropolis by Manilla Road, switching up their garage punk with the leather and studs of heavy metal. 

It's an album that stalks, struts and strikes, punk and metal in a noisy unison, Hysterese still do it raw, loud and heavy. 7/10

Embrace Of Souls - The Battle Of The Dead (Rockshots Records)

It's fair to say that after two records Italian band Embrace Of Souls know their sound. Dual vocal symphonic power metal, richly produced with orchestrations augmenting more tradibal European power metal gallops. 

The vocal interplay between Giacomo Rossi's powerful heavy metal voice against Martina Mazzeo soaring soprano tell these conceptual stories of "medieval world consumed by a mysterious plague that corrupts human souls" well as the records narrators, letting the band made up of Valerio Edward De Rosa (guitars), Xavier Rota (bass), Davide Baldelli (keys) and band founder Michele Olmi (drums) create the cinematic, music to accompany them. 

Be it muscular power metal gallops on the opening Title Track, the neo-classical Spine, the dramatic Betrayal, the powerful The War or the symphonic brilliance of The Dark Lord, there's not much the band can't turn their hands too, moving through various aspects of power metal and doing all of them all well, the top tier drum work a highlight. 

Will some of this be familiar to fans of power metal? Yeah of course. However Embrace Of Power have the experience to make it a unique, enjoyable, listening experience. 7/10

Hellforce - City Of Dis (Self Released)

Formed just under a year ago from the home of Sabaton Falun, Sweden, Hellforce are young band with a lot of talent and some very old school influences, inspired by classic heavy metal they cite Grave Digger, Savatage and Accept as who they want to sound like.

They kick off with The Cursed Land, a raging heavy metal romp that's got all those influences in it, from the galloping bass and drums to the shredding guitars. It's classic metal so it's not the most complex sound but what is ultra impressive is that none of Hellforce are even 18 yet!

Leonard Hansson (vocals/bass) is 16, William Ols (guitar) is 14 and drummer Leo Mullback is only 12 but they already sound like they've been playing together for a decade or more, their skill is very high, just listen to the solo sections in Dawn Of Evil and Pain & Suffer.

Really all four songs on this album are well written and very well performed, not just for musicians of their ages but for bands with many more years on the clock. Lots of potential and some classic metal riffs from Hellforce on their debut EP. 7/10

Reviews: Redshift, Erdve, Kristoffer Gildenlow, The Scalar Process (Matt Bladen, Joe Guatieri, Cherie Curtis &

Redshift - Down The Wire (Pale Wizard Records) [Matt Bladen]

We're long past the days when HyBriD_tHeOry.exe used to curse your computer to hell and back, technology has evolved exponentially since then and we've all had to keep up. The issues of A.I have inspired many songs, albums, most in the prog metal genre, much of this due to prog's inherited links to Sci-Fi I would think. 

So when I saw Bath based prog metal trio Redshift were making their long awaited return with concept album in six chapters, telling the story of a "world surviving without independent thought, where human-made art became outlawed, and A.I generated art propagandises obedience." So taken straight from the dystopian Science Fiction of the 70's but more resonant culturally than it ever has been. 

It's the story of an artist who acts in defiance of this New World Order, creating the most experimental and human art that he can where freedom and expression is paramount, creating a resistance to the machines. If any band can really lean into this idea, it's Redshift who have been impressing us in these pages since their debut,their style of Opeth meets Rush via Dream Theater, instantly making a mark with their debut and it's follow up scoring high. 

Unfortunately the band faltered a little after their second record as co-founding guitarist Joshua Boniface left the band so live shows to promote that record were limited. But with guitarist Tiago Martins joining drummer Jack Camp and Liam Fear vocals/bass/keys, they've injected some new life and creative vision into their third album. 

Down The Wire bursts to life with The Singer, heavy, melodic, breakneck, there's virtuosity everywhere but used to propel the vision and storyline. Moving through Dream Theater, Opeth and early Haken (when they still had harsh vocals), all the big hitters are ticked off as another story driven journey begins the production sound of Ben Turner and Jamie King, right bang on with the modern prog metal crowd. Into The Machine and there's more Dream Theater, with a bit of Styx vocoder work, black metal snarling and then a solo section Rush would be proud of. 

Needless to say if you don't like prog then this is an album to avoid as it somehow gets madder on The Clown where the band show they've been listening to too much Mr Bungle, Primus and ELP, the carnival atmosphere, the haughty spoken word vocals, the banjo, arpeggios from hell, it's a wild ride that goes wilder when John Hare adds Trumpet and Flugelhorn to increase the jazz fusion quotient on The Rogue, where the organ/keys are very familiar, and they should be, as Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater/Michael Schenker) is the guest for this one, prog keyboard royalty on this most muscular of proggers, which lovers of bass will get all gooey over. 

After this venture into the prog fusion sphere, Down The Wire ends with the 13 minute The Redemption, a song where every facet of the band is on show, each previous track is referenced, all of the virtuosity is at a paramount, from guitars, to bass, to keys and drums and even the vocals are the most varied, adopting some Geddy Lee tones when it moves into the dreamy acoustic section that precedes the intense finale. Redshift embrace the change in their line up to create their most expansive album yet! 

Another perfect prog record from this special band. 10/10

Erdve - Epigrama (Season Of Mist) [Joe Guatieri]

Erdve are a band from Lithuania whose sound falls somewhere between Hardcore and Metal, they formed back in 2016. Over the course of their career so far they have put out two albums, that last one being 2021s Savigalia. Now in 2026 they bring us their latest effort, Epigrama.

The record opens with a song that takes its name from the album title, the track presents a metallic explosion with deeply heavy riffing. The guitars are piercing, trying to break through the glass ceiling with their intensity. This attack is paired with Post Metal solace in the chorus that feels heavenly, it’s a battle between good and evil which is something that Erdve loves to do throughout this LP.

Next we have track two with Nyra. It’s a song that has a lot more Sludge elements at play, in my mind it takes influence from Primitive Man in it’s destructive nature. The bass adds so much weight with its thick tone, this song is pulverising.

Later on we go into track five with Trukme. At first this song verged into a territory of sounding too similar as what came before it. However, this song proves to be the most daring and experimental song on Epigrama as after a great buzzing breakdown, Trukme transforms. It dances between Ambient and EDM with a glitchy drum machine and massive low-end. I wasn’t crazy about it but it shows how inventive Erdve can be.

Directly following that is a Blackened Metalcore number called Svertas. It’s incredibly catchy as is the rest of the record with its headbang-inducing drums, impossible not to move to it. By 3:13 the track almost comes to complete silence as a lone guitar is heard only by its left breath, sounding defeated until 3:41 when you are blasted into space with an incredibly victorious riff. It’s the perfect resolution to the song and presents excellent use in dynamics and patience and shows how beautiful Erdve can sound, they always move forwards! No doubt, Svertas is my favourite song on the album.

Overall, Erdve have put together a tight and expansive listening experience with Epigrama. The band has got a rock solid formula in place balancing sheer force in hefty riffs, pace and creativity with blissful guitar passages that float in the sky above all of the darkness. I’m impressed with Erdve and the band have definitely proved their worth to me. Epigrama is great but I think that this band are truly capable of doing something even better. 7/10

Kristoffer Gildenlow – Humanised (New Joke Music) [Cherie Curtis]

Kristoffer Gildenlow brings 9 dark, weirdly fascinating and magnetically intimate tracks to his newest album, Humanised. What strikes me most about this album is the level of articulation and control there is between stifled passion and controlled ferocity.

Humanised is rich with layers of punching and detached main vocals complimented by affecting backing ones, It’s atmospheric and technological with tense riffs and resounding drums that provide a dynamic build to a towering point followed swiftly by a gratifying breakdown, that's less of an explosion and more surgically precise which shifts the tone back and forth between melancholy and passionate.

There is heavy emphasis on being enigmatic paired well with measured yet coarse power. It’s certainly not a neck breaker of an album but a moodier one that can only be described as sitting comfortably in the eye of a storm. The Fields, is a personal favourite of mine and I feel like it’s the track that captures this sentiment the most.

Gnarled and abrasive but around the 1 minute mark it switches up completely into one of the most gripping and harrowing, soft spoken bridges I've ever heard in a song, and I desperately need this bridge in an IV attached to at all times. The Almosts is a close second, a cinematic build up with a stunningly textured chorus that feels more like a lament than the rest of the album and will stay with you long after the album finishes.

All in all, Humanised, offers us something interesting as well as distinctive. It's always great to hear when an artist bends genres by contrasting styles and sounds, especially in this album. It doesn't feel experimental but very well established and thought out, giving us prog metal with some symphonic fusion and that's why this one feels so special. 

There isn’t a comparison I can think of, and even though Kristoffer Gildenlow has been around for a while and has put out a good few albums, this one manages to feel like a one off without being inauthentic. 10/10

The Scalar Process - Agnomysticism (Transcending Obscurity) [Adz Redpath]

The Scalar Process from Besancon, France are a self coined progressive/tech death band which is an accurate description to say the least, fitting in the pocket with bands covering everything from Fallujah to Rivers Of Nihil onto the mighty Periphery. Having a cohesive and tight musical metric that shines throughout with a tasteful use of keys and sampling that adds to a huge sonic assault on show here with this their second full length outing on Transcending Obscurity Records they are making a real statement.

There is tight and cohesive musical vision on show here from musicians who clearly know their craft and the genre traits that serve their vision best. Truly peak vocal layering and production are on show throughout with my only personal critique on the mix being that I feel a touch more of the low end sonics and frequencies are missing giving it not as much bass and rhythm guitar punch, this does not detract but is something that would elevate this band to a genuine head turner although this is a negligible quibble at best as finding fault in this release is hard. 

This being said I know the battles of trying to balance the clarity a band seeks with note definition and separation on a record with the required low end shift that many have these days in the metal scene and whilst this doesn't shake rooms with its low end it provides a soundscape that is truly captivating for fans of the genre and whilst considered tech death I don't find it contrived or overtly technical in a pretentious or self gratifying way, the band have struck a great balance and it genuinely sounds like they are writing for the song rather than to satisfy personal wants for overtly tech sections that will usually only interest fellow musicians.

The vocals truly shine here with intricate layering and a great balance from Mathieu Lefevre when needed between heavy and clean exemplified on a track like Incessant Continuum. The guitarwork from Eloi Nicod and Lucas Martinez shines throughout with a heavy lean towards the stylings of Rivers Of Nihil at their best, both intricate and tasteful in equal measure. 

Adding in stunning soundscape interludes scattered throughout as in the incredible Affluent Marea and the haunting Sigil which gives goose bumps as a reprieve from the sonic assault that these guys hit with and the whole opus being knit together by the consistent weight of the rhythm attack from Thomas Giroud on drums and Vincent Amar on bass.

It's hard to pick favourites here although for me A Breathing Moment is a genuine high point amongst an absolute monster of a release, this is a band that anyone into the extreme genres should absolutely not sleep on and one I will be not only following but would love to see live, An easy and very high recommendation. 8/10