A project masterminded by Mexico City scene mainstay B.G. Ikanunna, Black Hate have been pumping out black, well, hate since 2006. The wordily-titled Via Pvrgativa... is the sixth album from this project and it's a solid and intense, and enthusiastic, exploration of black metal that will please fans of the more rocking styles of the genre. Opening with brief ambient intro To the Firmament, ominous with male choirs, tolling bells, and sampled Spanish, first track proper Trembling Hands of Sorrow blasts in thereafter. It's a curious mix on first listens, near-bellowed vocals, very organic-sounding drums and fuzzy, verging on disharmonic guitars before kicking into a Carpathian Forest-esque rocking groove. Some may find BG's vocals a little too throaty but they're undeniably intense and wholehearted, carrying you along with sheer ebullience even as later in the track they vary with higher-pitched yells, deep moans and growls. And although a little long at eight minutes long, it's a fine first taster for the album.

Black Hate keep up the pace thereafter, the likes of Luminous Ruins of Death and Tempestad (o de la transubstanciación) having a similar black 'n' roll vibe, the former indulging in some roaring and snorting vocals in a slightly silly way, the latter slowing down for some doom-tinged explorations. The general seven-to-nine minute song length can feel a little stretched in places, yet generally the band are good enough song writers to earn it, particularly once you reach the more melodic meanderings of Ascension of a Burning Soul, leaning towards Necrophobic territory towards its end. By far the best piece on the album, however, is finale Dark Night of the Soul, starting with ritualistic throat singing, building up with catchy riffing - again a little long at over thirteen minutes - but you forgive the band in the final moments as the guitars turn to a flurry of high-pitched noise, growing more bizarre and unsettling as it continues, the tension mounting to breaking point. A solid rather than stupefying album, but satisfying for what it does.