German purveyors of melodic brutality, Neaera return after yet another year of live festival domination with their sixth studio album. The 12-track monster is a slickly produced behemoth, brimming with the confidence you’d expect from a band this deep into their story.
Walk With Fire and My Night Is Starless are exceptional examples of Neaera’s knack for atmospheric melody and relentless pace, with Benjamin Hilleke’s thick, scornful growls providing a chaotic and aggressive contrast, while Between Us And Annihilation is a suitably apocalyptic grindfest, flawlessly fluctuating between crippling blast and punishing halftime grooves before you can catch your breath.
Meanwhile, the title track is a deceptively straightforward Swedish death metal-influenced riff-a-thon, but sets the pace, melodic theme and furious velocity that forms the iron backbone of the album. An impressively visceral affair from a band with plenty more left in the tank.
