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It's been a while since I reviewed anything from Mexico's Voltax, their 2009 self-titled debut to be exact. Their sound, high-octane, '80s-flavored heavy metal, hasn't changed all that much but the band has improved noticeably over the intervening years. The playing is tighter without sacrificing their spontaneous and rambunctious roots and the songwriting, while still not groundbreaking, is more focused. Ardentis, their fifth full-length album, contains barn burners like "Hasta que rein el silencio" and grimy, rocking anthems like "Guardian de las eras," neither of which set the world on fire, but my head was banging anyway. In a different twist, singer Jerry channels his inner David Wayne and the band conjures up some heavy as hell riffs for tracks like "Abismo" (my favorite on Ardentis) and "La bestia interior," so in addition to recalling countrymen like Split Heaven, you can add Metal Church to Voltax's similarities. It is not enough to get me to go back and explore their earlier albums I missed, but if you want some roll down the windows in the car and crank some heavy metal while driving music, you can do a lot worse than Ardentis.