Seven albums in, Brazilian Death squad Krisiun show no signs of stopping their brand of brutality. What is obvious after even a single listen to all fifty minutes of grunt n’blast is that any changes in style are kept to a minimum. With eighteen years in the business you can be sure that the Kolesne brothers are technically proficient, and the riffs and blasts are all razor-sharp, but it’d be nice to have some measure of progression from 2006’s AssassiNation. Still, fans of the band will be in heaven – as ever, it’s hard to believe that just three people are making this much of a racket, yet you’ve probably heard songs very similar to the likes of Sentenced Morning on one of the band’s previous albums.

The standouts? Well, opening song Slaying Steel twists and turns with a strangely atmospheric vibe, very nearly epic but holding off in favour of the trio’s usual sturm und drang. Minotaur opens with some slightly tribal drumming, but apart from a slightly deviant descending riff takes a similar path to all the other songs on the album. That’s the problem with Southern Storm, really. Ever heard a Krisiun song before? Well, in that case it’s impossible to recommend this album to you, unless you’re the type that likes listening to the same song over and over again. There is the occasional divergent moment, such as the opening to Bleeding Offers, but all in all this is what you’d expect from a Krisiun album. Though quite why the band decided to put a cover of Sepultura’s classic Refuse/Resist song around the midway point of the album is beyond me. It’s not like it’s a particularly good cover; it does nothing that the original doesn’t, and doesn’t even have a Death Metal vibe – aside from Alex’s growls, this could be a replica of the original.

Much of the criticism directed at Brutal Death Metal is how it all sounds the same. Fortunately there are enough bands capable of making their songs sound dissimilar to make this by and large nonsense, yet there’s always a band like Krisiun out there willing to mess things up for the rest of us. Don’t get the wrong impression – Southern Storm is a good album if you listen to one track at a time. When put together, however, and you’re faced with just under an hour of this, then no matter the band’s technical skills, you’ll be bored, even with the whirlwind of riffs that some tracks (Sons Of Pest isn’t so bad) present. Ultimately, all that this has going for it is some cool cover art and the fact that there are people out there not bored to tears by Krisiun’s output since the millennium. If you’ve passed on this band before because of their lack of change, feel free to do the same here.