I knew of this Finnish band mostly down to a couple of very positive reviews on Ave Noctum for previous releases. This, their fourth full length happily fell to me this time as with a name like Bonehunter on Hells Headbangers you kinda just know this has got to be balls out stuff.

Soooo. Spooky spoken word intro ‘World Of Darkness’ sets the stage; a world of evil and weird and riffs! ‘Black Magic M16’ just powers in, burning leather and automatic weapons blazing for Hell itself. It’s an absolute stormer, a hail of thrash bullets that just rip straight through you. Blackened speed metal, thrash like Destroyer 666 at their most reckless, a strong blend of punk and heavy metal lead breaks and Bonehunter are formed! And the gnarly melody? Not an ounce of sugar, just blood-in-the-mouth, staring eye, clenched fist hooks.

‘Parasite Eye’ adds a little more punk n roll to the power, a truly infectious riff as the snarling vocals ride over the music. Perfect tempo, great lead break, feral music. Like being on a rollercoaster when the brakes fail.

Kinda wow.

‘Altered Beast’ is a fast but pounding track showcasing both excellent drumming and bass work (love a mix for music like this when you can hear that bass barrelling away). ‘Devil Power Soldier’ kinda gives me flashbacks to some of the 80s Teutonic thrash fed through a black metal blender and coming out with the studs twice as bright. And what do you follow that title with? Well ‘Chromium Death Mechanoid’ of course! I mean can these titles be any more thrash? And it starts like an out-of-control Motorhead locomotive charging downhill with D666 at the wheel.

I’m out of breath by this point.

So ‘Gashadokuro’ (it’s a giant skeleton from Japanese folklore if you’re interested) is a welcome near six-minute slower tempo number. It ratchets down the tension with a repeated, almost Blue Oyster Cult-esque chord refrain and yet another great use of lead work.

Breath caught they charge off to ‘Virgin Devil Princess’ (they do have a way with these more-metal-than-metal three-word titles don’t they?) and ‘Nightmare Angel 2099’ before finishing me off with the title track, the closest here to a pure black metal track with one of those shivering, melancholy Sargeist style melodic refrains.

Having thankfully (for me) left behind the majority of their earlier goregrind level lyrical tendencies this is honestly, without a single doubt, the best black/thrash/punk album I’ve heard since ‘Wildfire’. Utterly ripping, teetering out of control and not giving one shit this is a headlong race to the gates of Hell stinking of booze and laughing all the way.

Awesome.

(9/10 Gizmo)

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https://bonehuntermetal.bandcamp.com/album/dark-blood-reincarnation-system