At the risk of sounding like a crazy old man (which, it could be argued, I actually am), I can hardly understand a word these fellows are on about. These Canadian nutjobs pump out half an hour of intense death/black metal insanity with a gurgling death vocal that I can’t make head nor tail of – indeed, you could almost argue that this is an instrumental album with the guttural shrieks and moans of vocalist Lörd Matzigkeitus functioning more as an additional instrument than as vocals as we know them. But that’s not to say that there’s nothing to enjoy on here – far from it.

The eight tracks that make up this album are all terribly, terribly violent but they also possess distinct and individual qualities and characteristics. Take opener Ancient Dialects of Wind for instance; it starts out like a nuclear bomb going off in your face, pummels you with a shit-load of blasting, and then slows right down for some screaming mad solos before rounding out with the mental blasting again. It’s exceedingly intense.

A particular favourite of mine is Frost Veined (the longest track on here at 5:30). I also like the flabby bass on Circling The Drain and the screechy vocals – and I can almost make out some of the lyrics at the very end of the track. Not quite, but almost.

Black Sorcery obviously like the kvlt production values of traditional black metal (i.e recorded in a shoe-box under the bed) but this only lends the album greater authenticity. It’s a pretty fucking intense album (Incursion is a perfect example of this) but I do offer the counsel that some listeners might be put off by the heavy use of the death metal vocal. Didn’t affect my life though. Lovely.

…And the Beast Spake is out now on Krucyator Productions.