There's a vicious streak running through the best of these deranged Finns' output that is the sound of a band at full power, with a constant nastiness that champs at the bit to be released. And Vigorous and Liberating Death has it in spades, elevating it high above what would be a dull album in other hands. Let's face it, this sort of metal has become cult without really trying, a galloping, violent black metal that absorbs anarchic grindcore to form Impaled Nazarene's unique brand of goat, sex and Finland-worshipping metal. Yet it's never become boring, never seemed to fade in impact. If it took me several listens before Vigorous and Liberating Death clicked with me, I'm quite happy to admit that this is my fault, not the band's. Their fiery energy and passion have always existed, whether I'm there to hear it or not – a very Satanic variation on the tree falling in a forest enigma.

Yet is it really surprising that a new ImpNaz album kicks arse? An unbelievable twelve albums into their career since the early nineties, the band have seen black metal grow from nothing yet remain very underrated. They deliver the goods when called upon, and are better at writing catchy songs than many (most?) Finnish black metal bands. I'd advise listening to this album as a whole, however, simply for how perfect the overall attack is. Moments come and go but the experience is key. King Reborn opens the album with a genuinely spinechilling scream and a blasting black metal attack, turning groovy with Flaming Sword of Satan's galloping rhythms. Pathological Hunger for Violence has an old-school grind, almost Napalm Death, vibe to its speedy, riff-fuelled violence, turning more black metal as the riffs blur together and an epic solo appears.

Throughout the album, it's heartening to hear how easily ImpNaz drop into a black metal trance, and it never detracts from the impact of the surrounding violence. Vestal Virgins may take a thrashier approach, Riskiarvio a Nasum-esque barrage, but the black metal underpins it all and keeps the album flowing. No, there's not a great deal of difference between tracks (although Sananvapaus' forty-four seconds of bile is especially short and sharp) and detractors may even call it monotonous. It's fair to say in ten years' time the band may make an album that sounds much the same! And it'd be nice to hear more of the band's slower, moodier moments (as on Hostis Humani Generis) which always have a great impact after the blasting. But Impaled Nazarene are the cockroaches of the black metal world – even a nuclear strike won't stop them, and you're be hard-pressed to find a better soundtrack to annihilation. (I am a bit disappointed to see that there's no goat-related song here for the first time, however!)