Victoria crustmongers Küntsquäd have put together a Stadium grind album of no little quality with their debut full-length. They may not quite carry the bombastic pedigree of compatriots Werewolves or Remains just yet, but the foundations are clearly in place here for the band to use this album as a springboard for bigger and better things…

At fourteen tracks and a tick over thirty minutes in length, they’ve got the proportions of the thing just right, moving ahead at a pace that’s urgent enough to keep the listener engaged at all times, and they pepper proceedings with some truly memorable material; The bass driven Take Control is an absolute ripper, with Brett Eldridge‘s Lilkeresque, filth-laden bass tone one of the best I’ve heard in a long, long time. Slave, Necro Nightmare and Psych Ward B all have bucketloads going for them too; Singer – and I use the word advisedly – Paula Damnzal croaks, howls and bellows her way through the set in frankly frightening fashion, boosted by some well-placed gang vocals (especially on the excellent Psycho Killer) and bolstered by the insistent drumming of Ads and a nice, wall-of-sound guitar assault courtesy of Damnzal and axe partner Steve Esler.

It’s pretty hard to sell this type of music to the uncommitted, but even at this earlyish stage in their career – the band are all veterans of the rock wars in other outfits – Küntsquäd have got enough firepower in the song department to draw in unsuspecting stragglers, and it’s not a big leap to suggest that they are bound for bigger and better things within their chosen theatre of operations in the years to come. So I’d have no hesitation in suggesting that this is well worth a listen if you love a bit of crust in your musical diet – get it up yas!

Küntsquäd releases on February 24th.