Despite having formed in 1993, this is only the second full length release from Gospel Of The Horns, after 2002’s A Call To Arms. As you’d expect, with fourteen years of experience under their belts (and stints in Destroyer 666 and Bestial Warlust) the band are quite tight, playing a speedy form of Blackened Thrash with obvious skill, which is a difficult thing to accomplish. Many bands end up like a less exciting Darkthrone, falling into a mid-paced groove and rarely coming out. Realm Of The Damned avoids this by playing fast and having lots of solos, sounding for the better part of the listen like a straight-up Thrash band with a gurgling vocalist and the occasional blastbeat.

As mentioned the band are experienced, clearly putting their hearts into grinding out the songs, and there’s few who wouldn’t get some enjoyment from this. The riffs may get slightly samey, the bass is generally drowned out, but the music seems tailor-made for headbanging. There’s even the occasional curiously Amon Amarth–alike moment where you can tell the band were writing with live sing-a-longs in mind. As such, one of the highlights here is Death Sentence, which hits all the right epic buttons without getting dull or being drawn out despite passing the six-minute mark.

There’s not a weak song on show. From the sampled explosions that open 1915 to the delightfully Gorgorothic Strength Through Fear, there’s something in each track that will gladden your heart and make you headbang like a lab monkey. No, the band hasn’t reinvented the wheel, or even updated it, but this little gem will be on the playlist for a while.