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Around since 1989 in one form or another, Inquisition have kind of quietly gone about the business of being a great fucking band. I thought Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm back in 2011 was a marvelous slab of evil, but I think this one might really be even better. No matter how you look at it, I think Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith really stands as the Black Metal album to beat this year.

Inquisition splice the atmosphere and melody of Black Metal with the heaviness of proto-Thrash and a kick of primal stuff like Hellhammer in their riffs. Altogether it produces a powerful, involving sound that flashes remarkable melodic complexity and hooks in amongst crushing heaviness and a deeply occultic atmosphere. There's more than a little bit of an Immortal vibe to this, but really Inquisition have a slower, more epic sound that still does not become Doom, remaining a distinct style that joins the primordial sound of First Wave Black Metal with the expansiveness and ambition of the Second.

This is just a deeply satisfying album, viscerally heavy, melodically inventive, powerful and complex. It rewards a first listen or a fifteenth with new pleasures and never stops going for the jugular. A fantastic release from an underrated and unknown band.