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The band claims this album was 'delayed', which for Runemagick means it took them longer than 48 hours to write and record. That's a joke there, but seriously, this band has been cranking out killer albums for years, so fast they make any other band look like they're just dicking off. It's been eight years since The Supreme Force Of Eternity, and this is their tenth full-length album – you do the math. The release of a new Runemagick album is always cause for celebrating at the House of Sargon, especially this one, as it is definitely a return to form. I thought 2003's Darkness Death Doom was their best all-around CD, and the releases since then have been good, but they have not quite measured up to my ears.

All that changes with Invocation Of Magick, which is their best album since DDD and goes on my shelf with that album and Enter The Realm Of Death as the best albums by Nicklas, Emma and Co. Runemagick, always doomy, took it to an extreme with last year's Envenom, but here they have backed off a bit on the slow doom crush and added back in some of the bludgeoning Death riffs that they ruled with in the old days. So Invocation sounds like Envenom crossed with Enter… Make no mistake, this is still Doom City, as the monolithic song lengths will attest (10 minutes for "Invocation Of Doom Runes" and the crushing "Fisher Of Souls", over 14 minutes for the head-smashing epic of "Black Magic Sorceress") But they have packed these monsters with both slow and faster riffs, so the album has more character and variety than their last one. Witness the unholy virgin-raping stomp of "Conjuration Of The Black Shape". Another thing I love is that through all their works, Runemagick remain lyrically dedicated to evil, monsters, demons, witches, and other cool shit like that. You will never hear this band getting introspective, no fucking way.

The only reason I can't rate this better is that the last song – 12 minutes entitled "Witchcraft Gateways" – is not really a song, but a bunch of sound effects, feedback noises, and then about 6 minutes of silence finished off with some pitch-shifted muttering. An irritating waste of space on an otherwise fine CD. If you love Doomdeath, then you need to get this one, as I don't think any other band is likely to do it better this year. Highly Recommended for those who think they can take it.