Swedish power trio Ironmaster have, with new album Weapons of Spiritual Carnage, produced something very special indeed…

For on WoSC, the band achieve what I personally thought to be impossible by distilling everything that’s great about Scandinavian extreme music into one extremely easy to digest metallic package. From start to finish, the ten track sfeatured on the album flow perfectly through every nook and cranny of what you might call ‘blackened death metal’ but is, upon repeated inspection, something rather more complex indeed.

Tracks like the title track, the superb Cast Into The Hollow and rousing closer Dismantling Eternity offer a truly progressive look into the future of heavy metal, a future where not only do dips into Latin-tinged jazz rock offer no fear, where heads down, no-nonsense riffage is of course wholeheartedly welcomed, but also a future that embraces sheer, naked talent and ambition for the wonderful assets they are. Ironmaster show no fear on Weapons… and the resultant thirty eight minutes of noise created by this no-hold-barred attitude can only rightly be described as utterly glorious.

When you get the chance, simply immerse yourself in this record; Revel in the uncompromising heft of Roberth Karlsson‘s immense vocal presence, marvel at the relentless battery of Janne Jaloma‘s drumming, and simply wallow in Jonas Kjellgren‘s alternate Sledgehammer/Rapier guitar approach. And then, when you’ve finished doing that, simply give thanks that these three characters have come together to produce music like Infinite Virulent.

If you love death metal, you’ll find a lot of albums to listen to over the next few months – make that A LOT – but I’ll happily wager few will bring the lightness of touch to the party, the sure-footed arrogance of the truly adept- that Ironmaster do here. This is a staggeringly good album!

Weapons of Spiritual Carnage releases on April 28th.