That Tau Cross‘s new album, Messengers of Deception, smashes out of the speakers on the back of a riff that German metallers Accept would like to have a lend of should come as no surprise; these are strange days, after all… Said song, Yaldabaoth, is one of the highlights of an album rammed to the gunwhales with the buggers, melding coruscating axes to Rob ‘The Baron’ Miller‘s at times wounded howl in a fashion that moves both the soul and the neck. This is music you feel as much as hear.

Fans of the man’s work in crust punk Gods Amebix will recognise strands within this new Tau Cross album, no doubt. Fans of the first two TC albums doubly so; But Messengers of Deception has the feel of something that’s been worked towards for a long time, whilst also feeling like a very personal work, and it transcends Miller’s other work to stand alone within his canon. Miller uses the album to run through a variety of the things that are currently exercising his mind, not anyone else’s, and for that reason, despite the music being some of the most immediately accessible of his career (Hollow Earth especially with it’s simple yet effective punch-the air refrain is something you could imagine going down well with a festival audience unfamiliar the the band or the man), there’s an almost impenetrable air to the lyrics that many may find intimidating. I’m no philosopher, and much of the lyrical content had me dumbfounded, I’m not ashamed to admit.

Still, that’s not to say there’s no merit in the lyrical themes being explored. But if it’s just heads down mayhem you’re after, then this is your lucky day. First single Burn With Me, which hopefully you’re already familiar with, is an absolute belter, fusing Ministry and Killing Joke with devastating results; New guitarist The Kurgan and drummer Talamh are a highly effective unit, delivering high speed blows to the head like Black Cadillac with machine-like precision and unforgiving brutality.

After this avalanche of sturm und drang, the slower pace of The Violence of The Lord is perhaps more what you’d expect from Miller; gloom-ridden, sludge-filled crust doom of the highest order. The gently picked guitars also give a nod to the goth that always lurks in the shadows of Miller’s music, working well to bring a reflective air to the first half of the record. Side two kicks off with the title track, the video for which was premiered within these very pages earlier this month. Another deceptively simple rocker in structure (the start of the track reminded you not-so-humble interlocutor of nineties noise rock darlings Therapy? and The Senseless Things, strangely enough), it’s perhaps the most similar thing on this record to the last TC album, and adds a little variety to proceedings. Despite it’s heavy subject matter, the songs has an almost uplifting air – remember I said this album is as much about the feel as the sound – giving the listener a little room to breathe before the pounding that’s coming…

Babylonian Death Cult is another of those highlights I mentioned earlier, a grinding slab of crust metal that’ll come to be looked upon as one of Miller’s best ever compositions… Miller works wonders with the lyric, making the phrase ‘Enochian codes’ something you find yourself bellowing whilst trying not to cut yourself shaving on a now-daily basis… the glorious prog metal ending is absolutely fantastic.

Next track Drowning The God remembers the melting of the eighties into the nineties musically with a funkier performance behind the kit from Talamh, and those Killing Joke influences make themselves visible here again; If I was in charge of such things I’d make this the third single from the album, as it’s probably the most easily digestible track presented, and features slivers of everything we’ve come to know and love from Miller all these years. Three Tides (Or The Triale Of Pyrat John Bellamie Seawytch Annabel Green) might sound like a Jacobean bodice-ripper, but it’s actually a slow-burning, incredibly dramatic historical metal epic in the best tradition of tracks like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Kurgan and Talamh hit the target just right with the mid song loping rhythms (which some might call Maidenesque), and this is another song you could see going down an absolute storm at all those Euro festivals where Denim battle jackets are still the equivalent of the Metalheads number ones…

Sensibly, after all the mayhem that you’ve just been subjected to, The Baron opts to end things in sombre, restrained fashion with the superb Sorrow Draws The Plough; Miller has become quite a dab hand over the years at penning these world weary tales of a Bucolic Englishness; It’s arguably a picture of an England that disappeared shortly after the end of World War Two, but that doesn’t make it any the less moving; it may come as a surprise after all the vehement metal that’s gone before to end on this note, but the tactic works perfectly. And as you reflect on ‘the return of the tender roots of spring’ you may find yourself shedding a tear for the passing of a world, never to return… For all my flippancy about the lyrical content of this record, there is an awful lot here to get your teeth into should you care to invest some time and energy. If not – no matter. Like I said, you’ll not hear many better albums in this milieu this year…

Messengers of Deception releases on December 4th.