Symphonic black metal is such an overcrowded genre that it’s very hard to find anything out of the ordinary these days, but Hermh have well and truly succeeded in overtaking the pack with their latest opus, ‘Cold Blood Messiah’. This, the band’s forth album since their conception in 1993, is a modern masterpiece of all things dark and grandiose, never letting up for one second of its thirty-eight minute playing time. Expect the tight Polish extreme metal sound which has made outfits like Behemoth and Decapitated such household names, but add in orchestral sounds and epically operatic vocals, and you have a record which Dimmu Borgir could only wish they had released.

    The overall atmosphere conjured up is a highly polished affair, with tight musicianship and production, which quadruples the heaviness of such blast-fests as ‘Sin As The Law’. Some numbers take the foot off the accelerator and opt for a more symphonic element, such as ‘I Bring You Fear’, which will certainly push all the right buttons for fans of later Emperor. ‘She Can Be Against Us?’ is a fantastic example of how to use an acoustic intro, which suddenly erupts into a cold-blooded scream from vocalist Bart, alongside a barrage of noise.

    It will not be long before this band is mentioned in the same breath as Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir and SepticFlesh, as this truly is as good as symphonic black metal gets. And if the music wasn’t enough for you, included with the album is a bonus DVD with the making of the video for the breathtaking ‘Hairesis’. What more could you ask for?

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