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The first time you listen to this disc, I guarantee you will be sitting there with a stunned expression on your face wondering whether the aural assault you were just subjected to qualifies as rape. My feeling is that yes, it does indeed qualify as such, but rather than reporting it to the police you will be much more likely to press that Play button again and cheerfully submit to another round of ferocious battery. With their 2006 masterpiece VVorld VVithout End (yep that's "(2 V's)orld (2 V's)ithout End" — tricky, no?), Katharsis has delivered an album of supreme Black Metal art, a swirling maelstrom of blasting, furious riffing and hateful, torturous screaming on par with the best of Norma Evangelium Diaboli's so called Orthodox Black Metal roster.

VVorld VVithout End is not an album you will be able to wrap your head around after one sitting, or indeed after half a dozen; this is an album so infused with the essence of chaos that you will walk away from each listen feeling a little violated, and while as a Black Metal fan that is pretty much exactly the effect you are after, it does also take a little while to come to terms with. Vocalist Drakh preaches blasphemy with a vicious tone that is reminiscent of Deathspell Omega's Mikko Aspa, a low to mid-range growl that is convincingly evil, and also frequently delivers some ear-piecing screeches similar to Tom Araya's famous opening scream on "Angel of Death" but with a little more urgency and insanity. It really is an effective performance, bloated with the mania that permeates the entire album, and varied enough to maintain your attention throughout. In fact, Deathspell Omega is a pretty good point of reference for the music as well; the drumming is blasting and chaotic to the point of dizziness and the guitars are dry and saturated in fuzz, ripping apart everything in their path with a combination of rough riffs and screaming tremolo sections. VVorld VVithout End is a more riff-based disc than DsO's latter output, with more coherent song structures and a willingness for the guitars to explore beyond the seventh fret, though as mentioned it takes a few listens for this to click. This album is how I imagine Kreator would have ended up sounding like if they had kept pushing the envelope of Pleasure to Kill into Black Metal territory, as it has that same essence of chaos and acerbic anger that was found in the early German thrash scene.

The production is Black Metal to the core, and helps enormously in delivering that aforementioned feeling of chaos. Initially it blasts out as an impenetrable wall of noise, swirling and distorted, but as with the songs themselves, repeated listens part the veil upon a reasonably clear production where each instrument is audible.

If violent, swirling, chaotic Black Metal is your thing and you have the patience required to delve into the depths, Katharsis' VVorld VVithout End will definitely satisfy your craving for vitriol and blasphemy, as this really is the aural equivalent of a great white feeding frenzy. But be warned this really is intense Black Metal and anyone who doesn't listen to this kind of music often will have a hard time with it.