It takes a while for French black metal outfit Eternal Hunt to really get under your skin; The first eleven minutes of their new album An Era of Shame, are spent hammering the listener into submission by way of a couple of lessons in violence, Ancient Gods and The Spirit of Wendigo, that really let the listener know who is boss (SPOILER: It’s not you or me).

But after this brutal bit of ‘scene setting’ the band loosen up a little, spread their wings, inject a little melody here and there and really take flight. Consequently the following tracks, Locus and Through The Hurricane, hit massive amounts of black metal paydirt; Achlys‘ impressive vocals slash a path through the battery of the rest of the band with mighty results. Ritual brings the intense heaviness back, but as with standout cut Arrival, there’s a little more nuance to be had than earlier on in the album. Zhand‘s drums swing a little, giving a nice little x-factor to the overall maelstrom of Ægir and Gelgjer‘s guitars and Aegaeon‘s machine gun bass.

Voices of a Dissonant System continues the good work, upping both tempo and intensity effortlessly, and again features a fantastically over-the-top vocal assault from Achlys, who manages to inject real, menacing character into his vocal presence throughout. In an age where studio sterility often reigns supreme, and performances sound suspiciously automated, this man actually sounds like me means what he is bellowing. Which could be rather worrying if you happen to be in his immediate vicinity…

Although they don’t detour too far from the well-trodden tropes of their forbears, the band aren’t afraid to add their own stamp if they feel a track demands it. The anthemic, uplifting guitar figure that appears firstly about a third of the way through The Axiom of Victory, for instance, is evidence of a band that has just that little bit in hand to elevate the merely very good to the utterly excellent without too much trouble. It’s a good knack to have, and you get the sense that there guys have plenty in their toolkits if need be.

Obviously this won’t be everybody’s chalice of blood, but it’s freshness and vitality makes it hard to resist if epic blackness colours your musical judgement on a daily basis. Enjoy responsibly…

An Era of Shame releases on May 31st.