‘Back in a corner I’m left to die, Carried by the Thames and the tide, Where my body drifts I will lie, Beneath the ruins I reside, Internal war’ (Black Milk)

Stingray are back with a new 12-inch and follow-up to 2023’s searing Fortress Britain.  The anger remains undimmed, the sheer ferocity unrestrained.  But, there is also a new assurance to the London band’s delivery that allows them to give even fuller rein to their thoroughly instinctual hardcore.

It is, perhaps, the twin guitar onslaught that proves the defining force.  From the galloping velocity of the title track opener to the coruscating climatic breakdown to Like Dogs and the slab-like grooves of Impending Doom, the band draw on the muscular heft of mid-1980s’ thrash metal and then force feed the riffs through a much darker, crustier Japanese hardcore filter.  In contrast, the solos are steeped rather more in a classic, unabashed heavy metal flamboyance – the closing volley to Failed Harvest is nothing short of unhinged.

The barbarously roared vocals and the bruising rhythm section provide a resolutely unforgiving backbone to this feral virtuosity.  A new element is also added courtesy of guest vocals from (I believe) Hellscape’s Ciara – first, a gothically drawled incantation during Black Milk and then her fierce dual vocals are deftly interwoven through Like Dogs.  This visceral battery conjures a world where hysteria grips, divisions are stoked, and we once again career towards a world at the mercy of military brinkmanship and authoritarian impulses.