I seem to be one of the Khold/Tulus boys' biggest fans in the MetalReviews.com realm. They're an easy band to like – that catchy yet grimy groove is ridiculously infectious – but seemingly a hard one to truly love. Well, perhaps Til Endes ('to the end') the sixth full-length from Khold released a long six years after the excellent Hundre år Gammal, will change a few more minds. No, it's nothing that Khold haven't done before, isn't as good as their last album and at just under thirty-three minutes long it's one of the band's shortest. But hell, the songwriting is terrific, and it's that which should turn your head. Opening with the almighty groove of Myr ('marsh'), one central catchy riff driving the song onwards with a solid rhythm section from Sarke and (audible) bassist Crowbel. Skogens Oye kicks things up a gear into Darkthrone territory, the mid-tempo beat driving the song along happily, before Ravnestrupe slows things back into a doomy crawl before throwing in an exciting burst of speed towards the end.

Sure, this sort of thing would have been passé in 2004, let alone 2014, but Khold are so well practised that it all feels fresh and new. The title track's pulverising groove is a tightly wound beast, allowed free in spurts of riffing before being caged again and reminding you that these four boyos are decent musicians and have been doing this for a while – the video even shows that the band's approach to black metal is fully in keeping with the genre's dark atmosphere. It's been said before, but Khold's groove has more feeling put into it than a hundred identikit band's light-speed blasting – yet I always find myself impressed by Khold's depths, such as the sudden shifts into speed of Det Dunkle Dyp, which are all the more effective for the surrounding slowness.

The one sour note of the album is Dommens Arme, which is a cover of Sepultura's Troops of Doom – it works fine (and props for giving early Sepultura love) but feels out of step with the rest of the album. A bit too gimmicky, which is what a band that's known for playing groovy black metal and having a frontman with such distinct corpsepaint should try and avoid! Still, the enjoyable solo suggests that Khold should indulge themselves a little more in that respect – yet the band's core sound is still very enjoyable, and taking six years to make thirty-odd minutes of music is hardly something to complain about. Long live Khold, a band that remember that black metal can be both dark and fun.