Having moved from Earache to Sevared, it’s a shame for Blood Red Throne that they couldn’t quite make it in the death metal game. The Norwegians were the first grunt n’blast band I ever brought, 2003’s Affiliated With The Suffering shocking my virgin ears when I first heard it with sheer heaviness, and I’ve followed them since. My favourite is probable Altered Genesis, with its little background bass trills and jackhammer-precise songwriting, which neither of the follow-ups Come Death nor Souls Of Damnation could surpass. Truthfully, Brutalitarian Regime is yet more evidence of a skilful band in decline, a solid yet uninspiring forty minutes of post-Deicide/Cannibal Corpse worship that ticks all the boxes but doesn’t quite deliver the goods. It’s a shame, because the roots of a good album are audible, the riffs constructions and songwriting enough to keep your attention. There’s nothing wrong with Graveworld, to take a random example, although if you’ve heard Blood Red Throne before you’ve heard very similar songs many times over. The melodic touches and technicality of Trapped Terrified Dead works better, Games Of Humiliation’s ritual beatdown and Proliferated Unto Hemophobia’s Aborted-esque crunch also worth hearing.

You have to give Blood Red Throne their due. The band certainly know how to write a good death metal hook, the likes of Eternal Decay having enough catchy twists and turns to keep your head bobbing. It’s also worth mentioning Melena, a death metal rampage that’s the best thing on the album with bass twangy technicality and catchy breakdown. Closing with a Pestilence cover (Twisted Truth) shows that Blood Red Throne have taste as well as skill, and really I’ve heard worse from bigger names. This is far from the band’s best album, but if all else fails, it’ll make a good stopgap before the new Cannibal Corpse.