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With this being their sixth album in 14 years, there can be no doubting the commitment of Mors Principium Est to their craft. If you long for the days when In Flames refused to budge from sixth gear, and still had a hefty dose of death in their melodeath, then Embers… might just be right up your street.

What it won’t do is win any new converts. The Colours Of The Cosmos and The Ghost both have pace and savagery mixed with some excellently catchy lead guitar parts, but there is far too much on here that feels like 2003’s ideas warmed up a decade later. There’s nothing wrong with staying true to yourself, of course, but too much of this album has already been perfected by too many other bands. When the band do chuck in a little twist, like the synths on Masquerade, it feels cheap and tokenistic.

Mors Principium Est don’t need to find a new formula, but they could do with improving the current one.

Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.