It's always a pleasure to hear these Spaniards, setting a new standard in incomprehensible brutality with their debut full-length Planisphærium back in 2003 and continuing to release sci-fi-obsessed bursts of interstellar noise on two more albums released in the last six years. And there's no lightening of the aural load, the band still happy to crush their listeners with riff after riff, although the vocals have grown less inhuman since their early days. It's still impossible to make out what Phlegeton is spewing, of course, but do we really want to know? The muscular heaviness on show from the music itself is more than enough to keep our minds transfixed in horror, with interesting songwriting that allows for a touch of atmosphere from the ominous opener Remote Void, an almost epic build towards the end fading away a little too early in the EP's one frustrating moment.

There's plenty of variety, however. The following Cryptoubiquity is more galloping and brutal, drawing out the riffs towards the end and then ending the metal altogether for a moment of bleak ambience, the last thing you hear after being sucked into a black hole. E-Xystem://Ce opens with piano and continues into a more avant-garde style, death metal riffs emerging and vanishing almost at random as the lyrics speak of an insane AI taking control. The ending, where the music suddenly gets louder and the repeated grunts of 'B-life is complete' is terrific, almost as if the AI has seized power and is now speaking directly to you. A fun little EP that will please death metallers.