Arriving just in time to relieve you of your Christmas record vouchers (do such things still exist? – Genuinely interested Ed.), Sweden’s Mörk Gryning are here with a rather nice little album to blacken the Yuletide ardour of your friends, relatives and, most importantly, adjacent neighbours… THAT’S RIGHT – this is an album that deserves to be played at unrepentently high volume!

In layman’s terms Fasonas Tid is a triumph of stripped back, in-your-face trve metal; For thos of you of a more technical bent – it’s a no-holds barred stonker of a record. Only on the superb The Serpent’s Kiss (itself preceded by brooding, Opeth-like instrumental Barren Paths) do the band really throw the kitchen sink at the matter in hand. It pays dividends if only because the comparative sophistication exhibited stands out like a very sore thumb indeed, but that doesn’t mean to say that the more straightforward material is lacking.

Au contraire, Det Svarta, the title track and the excellent An Ancient Ancestor of the Autumn Moon all carry real black metal heft; Though not universally regarded to be among the black metal elite, I’ve always retained a sneaking regard for this band; They know their strengths, play to them – again and again – with the result being an incredibly self-assured, some might say cocky take on the genre.

Purists may not find what’s on offer here to be quite pure enough, but there’s no denying that this is an album that hits hard and fast in all the right, visceral places. Closing track Age of Fire ends things on a savage, obliterative high, that’s for sure, but overall this is an album that starts well and gets better with little or no room for manouevre for those who come to carp. Mörk Gryning are in top form here, and that’s an absolute joy to report.

Fasornas Tid releases on December 13th