‘You’ll always have a chance to joyfully create, Something that’s still fierce and raw, You tell me what’s good or bad, Can’t stand this no more’ (Spiritual Law)

Prepare to be well and truly stomped.  This is the self-titled debut full-length from Bavaria’s Spiritual Law and it’s an absolute bruiser.  The burly yet, at times, blisteringly fast fuzzed out riffage is studded with shards of bleakly ominous melody.  The whiplash solos initially carry with them a thrashier exuberance but are coloured an increasingly psychedelic hue as the album evolves.  The rhythm section locks into a groove fuelled d-beat onslaught, cymbal awash and imbued with an innately limber swing.  Meanwhile, the barked, echo drenched vocals confront a world mired in wilful ignorance, militarised violence, and strangled potential.

The sledgehammer velocity is utterly unforgiving.  There is always a temptation to immerse everything in waves of distortion (and don’t worry there is plenty of that).  However, any potential overkill is resolutely resisted and instead space is afforded to each constituent element of their sound.  This adds, despite the overriding sonic brutality, a really satisfying granularity, from the lumbering menace of the bass to the deranged hi-hat eruptions.

The venomously shifting dynamics of Slander Me and the agitated grooves of I.H.R.K. unleash the punishing body punches, before the kick drum propelled title track and the unhinged euphoria that grips The Cleansing land the killer blows.  It is an utterly frenetic and richly detailed onslaught.