Black Cobra - Invernal

There are, in my mind, two Black Cobras: the radically-detuned, guitar-way-louder-than-vocals-and-drums sludge/doom masterpiece of Bestial, and... the rest of their albums. It's like after that they changed into a more-realistic version of Lair of the Minotaur, mixed with High on Fire: faster songs, more punk/Motorhead influence....
Bestial to me is, easy, top 20 doom albums of all time. I used to not like their stuff after that, but I tell ya...
...this new stuff is really growing on me.
Invernal (especially with its evil-Dr-Suess cover art), is a furious detuned screamathon. There's no filler, no "ambient intros," they get straight to it.
"Avalanche" roars out of the gate first, and, though no one number sounds particularly different from the rest, it all works. Fast sludge cut with a Helmet flavor. A blackened Helmet with more obvious, tribal drums. "The Crimson Blade" shows most obviously this combination of extreme metal styles. "Erebus Dawn" and "Abyss" are rippers, too. "Abyss" is the slowest one here, and the most moody/seething.
Do yourself a favor and check this bad boy out. You'll probably dig it, and if you don't-- there's always Bestial to return to.
--Horn