MENTOR Cults, Crypts And Corpses

PAGAN

Satanic rock’n’roll with a serial killer fascination

After their 2016 debut, Guts, Graves And Blasphemy, Polish four-piece Mentor have sharpened their alliterative skills for album number two. They’ve stepped things up a notch musically, too, with nary a second of this energetic 28-minute opus wasted on anything other than high-octane rock’n’roll, blending thrash, stoner and hardcore flavours into a gleefully acerbic cocktail. Opener We Dig hits the ground running, dishing out scuzzy Venomstyle riffs and a hefty doom breakdown in just over two and a half minutes. Mists Of Doom delves into thick High On Fire-esque grooves, only for Death Mask to blast into frantic, guns-blazing thrash directly after, complete with an eerie Swedeath guitar harmony outro. Sadly, the vocals are the weak link, alternating between a strained screech and generic hardcore bellow, but the riffs are good enough to look (listen?) past them.

FOR FANS OF: Zeke, Midnight, Kvelertak

KEZ WHELAN