Fell out of touch with Martyrdöd for a while there, and this is maybe the first one I’ve paid proper attention since ‘In Extremis’. I mean, I’ve dipped in and out, but as an ‘album band’ they just kinda fell of my radar for some reason. Stylistically, things are pretty much where I last left off with them: a rampaging mix of feral crust, icy black metal and quicksilver guitar melodies. While this concoction mightn’t be as novel as it was when they dropped that first LP for Plague Bearer, the intervening years have seen the band manage the alchemical by maintaining their chaotic volatility while honing their musicianship to an impossibly cruel edge. The results are savage, intricate and also curiously catchy, making for a seriously brutal piece of work that’s as impressive as it is fearsome.
