4th studio album from one of the leaders of the more recent wave (past 10 years or so) of old school Black Metal bands. If you only know of Watain through stories of their infamous blood-soaked/carcass littered live shows and not the music, then my comments may either be of no surprise or informative. I’m hoping for the latter.

Sweden’s Watain are no different (which is fine) from their heroes Bathory or Dissection (I also hear a little Marduk, pre "Panzer Division Marduk", in ‘Four Thrones’), crafting pure Black Metal with an anti-Christian Satanic viewpoint, forged in darkness and aggression, but more importantly patience, attention to details, and melodic leads. This all comes together on what I think is one of the standout tunes, ‘Malfeitor’ which begins faster, going back and forth between a more mid-tempo with the grooving riffs, Erik’s venomous (yet, understandable) voice, and outstanding melodic guitar leads at the 3 minute mark, then switching into a short Celtic Frost upbeat passage (4:00). Excellent!

‘Reaping Death’ raises the demon horns to the days of Bathory’s "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" and "Blood Fire Death". Opening nicely with the sounds of the night and Lycan, ‘Wolves Curse’, captures an unavoidable devilish spellbinding rhythm for this nine minute piece. Like ‘Malfeitor’, ‘Wolves Curse’ also breaks down the walls of what many think Black Metal sounds like. Granted, some elements of the genre are what make’s Black Metal what it is, but how Watain combine the standard riffing, with their approach to melodic guitar leads, and change in tempo, really puts them heads and shoulders above the crowd. Plus, unlike many from the genre, Watain do include guitar leads (see the title track) which is welcomed. I like the clean guitars for ‘Waters Of Ain’ (14 min.), it could be seen as their ‘Rime of The Ancient Mariner’ (Iron Maiden).

Frontman Erik Danielsson on the cover artwork: "Lawless Darkness" depicts the legions of the Antichrist, released and untamed from the broken tablets of law. By the shattering of order and the collapse of the laws of the creator God, the free spirits of lawless darkness shall return to the abode of their ancient Gods, and unite with them once again. The artist behind this amazing painting as well as the additional artwork for the album goes by the name of Zbigniew Bielak. His flawless detail and all-devouring capacity suits us perfectly, a match made in Hell indeed."

Watain follow in the footsteps of their forefathers, creatively using all those Black Metal components found at the altar of Hell to write music that really tries to (and often does) avoid sounding redundant, rehashed, or, when it comes to production, down-right shitty.