If you feel jaded and indifferent to most black metal nowadays, bored and burnt out on all the rehashed formulas and clichés, prepare to have your mind blown by Negative Plane’s latest. Insane riffs are all over the place harmonically, and beneath the wall-of-noise tempos and overwhelmingly evil atmosphere, fantastic chord progressions and song structures are there to astound the listener. Defying the generic black metal convention of trying to emulate Darkthrone, Burzum, or Blasphemy way too much, NP demonstrates real stylistic versatility, recalling the unique cult-like jams of Necromantia or Sarcófago and some old-school nastiness a la Bathory or Venom. Play this loudly while you read HP Lovecraft and have your soul devoured by demons. FCC clean. Best tracks: 1, 2, 5, 10.

1. (2:25) Haunting, atmospheric, doomy intro.
2. (7:03) A relentless barrage of sick, evil riffs, pummeling away at different super-fast tempos.
3. (8:05) Creepy prog-ish intro leads into a slower, more epic track full of sick, terrifying evil. Fantastic drumming, surprisingly un-monotonous for the genre.
4. (1:49) Hushed, eerie piano interlude. Sounds like a mental patient trying to play Bach.
5. (8:30) A ballistic assault of face-melting thrashy riffs, so evil you’ll feel compelled to sacrifice someone to Satan.
6. (1:14) Short, quiet, shoegaze-y guitar interlude.
7. (9:49) If Andy Laroque (King Diamond guitarist) were on a lot of psychedelic drugs, he might write some twisted—yet somehow hauntingly beautiful—riffs and harmonies like these.
8. (8:20) Again, oddly neoclassical, but not as angry. Bach harmonies dismembered and immolated for the mighty Horned One.
9. (2:47) Weird organ interlude
10. (11:31) YES!!! Badass long epic, the kind of song that is totally killer on a black metal record when it’s done right. Maiden riffs slowed down, distorted, and thrown into a blender with some Mayhem and left to fester.