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Some records act as stimuli, evocative of things, people and places. Deads is the killing floor of an abattoir. It’s only LLNN’s second full-length, but most of its sprawling, hardcore-flecked post-metal is comparable to Cult Of Luna’s Vertikal masterwork. This is cold, despiteful, unforgiving music. Instrumental tracks flesh out the horror, the mechanical segues not setting the scene but rather orchestrating it. There’s no respite; every dark-ambient passage stacks up the tension before throwing you into crushing, painful heaviness on the bass, grinding riffs and skin-flaying grotesqueries in every wound-raw scream. The hooks are sturdy and the weight of the crescendos is absurd, but LLNN’s greatest achievement is realised upon multiple listens, once the scraping nuances and background effects have sunk in. The pant-shitting sense of dread, the genuine discomfort, lingers long after Deads climaxes.

Alec is a longtime contributor with first-class BA Honours in English with Creative Writing, and has worked for Metal Hammer since 2014. Over the years, he's written for Noisey, Stereoboard, uDiscoverMusic, and the good ship Hammer, interviewing major bands like Slipknot, Rammstein, and Tenacious D (plus some black metal bands your cool uncle might know). He's read Ulysses thrice, and it got worse each time.