Recently beset by difficulties healthwise, original rock creatives In This Moment return with a new album. This is an act that sometimes misses me with their songs but at others just knocks me flat. At best they are incisive, witty, sensually powerful and impactful. How many gems will there be this time? The packaging is morose and on a doomy kick, a lot of the writing and notes are barely legible, they are that compressed.

The instrumental outing Salvation opens proceedings, easing into earshot with ominous sounds, a bell ringing, thunder, a wordless vocal in the ether, then pattering rhythm over deep chanting..it’s a bit like wandering in to a Rammstein rehearsal as the noise grows into a crescendo…

Oh Lord has a semi-martial beat. Then Maria Brink’s treated vocal is snarling away at us. She sounds as though she has The Iron Mask on. About 1:30 the song emerges, insistent and having a saturnine pulse, all distortion and darkness. Her distilled anguish is tinged with sensuality..boy, I bet she can be high-maintenance..

Black Wedding sets off on a hard piano riff before a sombre song slams in. The lyric seems to grab and twist the Billy Idol song into shapes it never intended. Hear that drummer pound in @ 00.40! A fine example of what ITM do best. Rob Halford’s on this one. A good horn arranger could do cool things with this song…..

The Air Tonight is the horrible Phil Collins whingefest of a song. I never understood why US rockers and rappers take to his music. Brink floats it on a cloud of pent-up breathiness and tomtoms and breathes the words out in a Goth middle of the night style. The whole thing gets a bit more intense about three and a half minutes end, as buzzsaw guitars sustain through the haze. Not for me.

Joan Of Arc speaks of the difference between Good and Evil, Brink’s voice rides a churning riffy backing of the Alice Cooper persuasion. Quite a strong number, this.

On to River Of Fire which stomps into life with sounds run backwards and a screaming vocal and apocalyptic lyric. The guitar tone is a tad Black & Decker. Witching Hour has a horror-film sample intro and the song is a dynamic tour-de-force, worthy of any metal band. A deadpan Brink vocal clinches this me, for me… an absolute highlight.

Twin Flames sports an aching vocal of great passion. Made for the stage, I would suggest, with a catchy piano intro and hissing vocal with steady bass inserts. Maria really lets go her over shrieking legato guitar. Their sense of dynamics is ever present . Half God, Half Devil rides an unearthly intro then the ensemble crashes in, Brink in a typical anguished and sounding at the end of her tether. The pre-chorus gives a moment’s respite then it’s back to full-on. Maybe the best constructed number in this collection.  No Me Importa has more doomy piano and edge-of-madness singing and the sing seems to ratchet up. The subject turns out to be a rat.

Roots has bittersweet words and a jackhammer delivery. Final inclusion is Lay Your Gun Down and very downbeat it is, too.

This group’s sonic palate and vocal approach is not everyone’s cup of tea, but they sure stand out in their field.

Pete Sargeant