Liv Sin is back with her third full-length solo album, and I have to say it’s by some way her best to date!

Ms Jagrell has always had a happy knack mixing old and new metal styles for maximum enjoyment, but here on new album KaliYuga she seems to have added some sort of X-factor to the recipe that really sees her and her band positioning themselves at the head of metal’s new contenders to the big time in 2023.

So whilst the overall feel is the same as always – big, beefy soundscapes that scream modernity whilst being rooted in the classics – tracks like King of Fools take the band from the ranks of metal’s honest toilers into whole new realms of excitement and promise. Opening with a jaunty, almost AC/DCish riff that gets the toes tapping as much as it does heads banging, Jagrell joins the fun with a committed vocal that’s equal parts snappy syncopation and wild-eyed bile spitting rage, and the song ends like something Arch Enemy might have produced in their Angela Gossow years; the result is an exhilarating listen.

The strident Forget My Name harnesses the power of good old-fashioned Euro metal but gives it a lick of memorability via another superb vocal from our heroine, who really does sound in career-best form throughout. It also bears some superb lead playing from new guitarist Jay Matharu, who would appear to be a new star in the six string firmament if his consistently impressive performances here are anything to go by.

D.E.R. is a slow-building epic, and is for this reviewer’s money the best track on the album; It features some guest interjections from Clawfinger‘s Zak Tell, but in all honesty in 2023 Liv Sin isn’t an artist that requires celebrity legups to get where she wants to be. She’s got the lineup in place behind her to realise her musical vision, and that vision would appear to be big enough to take her all the way. This is a must-listen album for metal fans everywhere.

KaliYuga releases on January 27th.