One of the few bands that it is possible to enjoy on any occasion, in any mood, Finnish goat-obsessives Impaled Nazarene have a very underrated discography. You can dip into it wherever you like and be assured of some quality headbanging, and whilst this review wasn’t chosen at random but was voted for on the MR forum, it could just as easily have been one of the band’s others, so consistent is the quality. That’s not to say that ImpNaz have never changed their sound, far from it – Latex Cult is their third full-length, and still has much of the Black/Grind aggressive that defined their early sound whilst lacking later forays into Doom and even Power Metal. Yet if there’s one overriding vibe that you get from this, it’s the sheer Punkiness of the Black Metal. The musical formula is pretty basic, riffing being somewhere between Motörhead, Discharge and Darkthrone, a loud bass, blastbeats and Mika Luttinene’s shriek making up the rest of what you hear with the odd sample adding a bit of spice. The longest tracks are barely over three minutes long, the shortest less than a minute; this is extreme metal redesigned as a series of short, sharp shocks, overwhelming and violent. And, of course, immensely enjoyable!

A fair few tracks can seem rather samey in a good, relentless way (Violence I Crave and Bashing In Heads are two good examples, a couple of bass twangs on the latter the most notable difference) but there are a surprising number of standout moments. I mentioned the Motörhead comparison before, and single (!) Motörpenis is one of ImpNaz’s most famous songs, almost a tribute in sound and style to everyone’s favourite band. You can’t fault the vicious pounding of 1999: Karmageddon Warriors, with the grind breakdown and enthusiastic exhortation to ‘thrash!’ despite the genre being wrong, or the outright Black assault of Zum Kotzen. Alien Militant rarely gets praise, despite being pretty brilliant, an epic atmosphere descending in the second half of the track quite by surprise – the following Punishment Is Absolute has a nicely grandiose feel, too, and The Burning Of Provinciestraat touches on Viking Metal territory in its warlike attack.

It’s a shame in some ways that all people generally remember from Impaled Nazarene albums are the tracks like Masturbator and I Eat Pussy For Breakfast. The band were and still are an important part of the Finnish Black Metal scene, going so far as starting a feud with Norwegian bands after pranksters in Beherit made joke phone calls. You can hear the rampaging darkness in their sound easily, especially on the final track here Delirium Tremens, a great way to bring the album to a close. Latex Cult may not be Impaled Nazarene’s best, but it’s a fine album in its own right, and a must-have for fans and newcomers to the goatcult alike.