Another burst of bleak, brutal, blackened grind from the Finnish degenerates, Eight Headed Serpent is undoubtedly not the best thing that Impaled Nazarene have produced. Even the expected entertaining bells and whistles tacked on, such as Goat of Mendes' sampled intro ranting about oral sex demons, are severely limited, with the underlying punky gallop still very much being ImpNaz by numbers. The energy that made previous outing Vigorous and Liberating Death so much fun is present and correct but Eight Headed Serpent's songwriting is a notable step down, with samey songs that batter along without leaving much of an impact. And there's a greater move towards punky, Motörhead-esque rocking in the likes of The Nonconformists even with the grindcore base, and less of the previous album's blackened core. Which is not really a positive move for Impaled Nazarene, even before you notice the self-embiggening lyrics - obnoxious from any band, par for the course with these Finns!

Buying into the band's image is part of the key to appreciating them, especially in their post-Pro Patria Finlandia output, but they are usually good enough songwriters that it's easy to be swept along. It's actually disheartening at how little effort has gone in here, particularly some of the sub-two minute songs like Apocalypse Pervertor or Triumphant Return of the Antichrist. The best moments here are definitely the most blackened, such as Metastasizing and Changing Threat's furious bludgeoning or Unholy Necromancy's groovier assault, but neither are exactly challenging for the position of the band's better songs. And although five-minute finale Foucault Pendulum acts as a palate-cleanser with its doomy, crawling pound, it's too long and repetitive to be really excellent as a piece on its own. An injection of inspiration is needed; even fans will find Eight Headed Serpent something of a disappointment.