Gevurah: Necheshirion

Canadian occult malevolence with an added groove

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Canada might have given the world the mighty Blasphemy and similarly barbaric outfits such as Axis Of Advance and Revenge, but aside from the odd act the country hasn’t provided too many internationally successful bands performing straight up black metal in recent years.

Hailing from Montréal, Gevurah might be about to change all that. Embracing the overtly occult leanings proliferating within underground metal right now, the band’s sound is suitably ferocious, but not perhaps as inaccessible as their imagery suggests. Despite the wholeheartedly monochromatic vision, this 30-minute EP – completed by a cover of Swedish orthodox obscurists Malign – doesn’t eschew dynamics or melody, instead tempering the blasting onslaught with larger, slower and even catchy riffage.

That’s not to say this is quite as groove-laden as recent releases by the likes of Watain or Marduk, but the creeping guitar work and sense of pace gives this abrasive assault a definite added depth.