As if that title wasn’t enough to hint at where things are headed, check out these song names: Hooded Menace offer up a ditty called ‘Monuments Of Misery’ while Loss have named theirs ‘Depression’s Hammer’. Sold already? Me too, and the music certainly doesn’t disappoint – not that you’d expect it to, from two such titans. Hooded Menace are up first and kick their side off with a seriously classy melodic riff before launching into some slow-motion misery that could conceivably be pegged as Candlemass gone Coffins. Riffs wind and curl, melodies roil and a scorching solo makes its presence felt, all while Lasse Pyykkö grunts like he’s gargling poos in a storm drain. Loss perhaps lack the dynamism and theatricality of their Finnish friends, but what they lack in slippery riffing they more than make up for in sheer spirit-sapping misery. While their side starts with a monumentally heavy bout of bludgeon it soon sinks down into something quieter and more reflective, with guttural murmurs and plangent guitar notes taking centre stage. Things gradually build up a heavier head of steam, but the vocals carry on low in the mix – almost as though Mike Meacham were so enervated by life that he can barely find it in himself to roar. Who, though, can truly blame him?