Do you like your Black Metal loud? Do you like your Black Metal angry? Do you like your Black.metal so loud and angry that it threatens to burst your head like that scene from Scanners before proceeding to kick the shit out of your still twitching body wit a pair of hob nail boots? Then, dear reader, do I have the perfect album for you.

Virulent by Cursed Bloodlines is the kind of record you put on when you need to not just break stuff, but when you need to break all the fucking stuff. It is a cosmic assault of Black Metal brutality that will leave you battered, bruised, and bleeding and all the happier for it. It is 46 minutes of unadulterated violence and is the perfect outlet when this fucked up world of ours crowds you in and you need to lash out.

Your boss being a dickhead? Play Virulent instead of punching him in the face. Your kids driving you round the twist? Play Virulent instead of burning your house down. The powers that be draining you of the will to live? Play Virulent and start a fucking revolution. If the question is what can I do to make sure I get through today without finding myself inside a police cell, the answer is play Virulent.

Cursed Bloodlines kick into gear from the word go and they don’t let up, at fucking all, across the entire length of Virulent. There is no room for ballads here. No time for introspection or to be gazing at your shoes. Sure enough, there are slower moments within the madness – incredible, chugging riffs dripping with eternal menace as the rhythm section roars the sound of hell and the vocals destort reality around you like The Old Ones themselves – but these are only there as a distraction for you, the prey, before the big fucking monster jumps out of the dark and swallows you whole.

Quite frankly, Virulent by Cursed Bloodlines is the musical equivalent of being locked in a room with a starving lion while wearing a meat suit.

I fucking love this record – yes, a statement I make a lot it seems, but one that tings true – and if you have any interest in an album that will be the most healthy outlet for your agression this side of kicking Elon Musk right in the bollocks, then this is the one for you.