The 14th studio long-player from the black metal royals, From the Very Depths opens with the wordless, cacophonous "Eruptus," which charts (sonically) the ascension of some sort of demonic entity from the bowels of the earth, eventually giving way to the explosive title cut, a four-minute blast of thrash/groove malevolence. The architecture may feel a bit phoned in, but the 14-track set is delivered with the panache of pros who know that their names will be written in the cement, as evidenced by stand-out cuts like "Rise," "The Death of Rock N Roll," "Stigmata Satanas," and "Long Haired Punks," the latter of which, a ferocious
Motörhead-style banger with considerable cojones, is much better than its a little-long-in-the-tooth title would suggest. ~ James Christopher Monger