K-X-P – III (Part Two)

Formed from the darkest matter, the Finnish trio's latest completes a cycle that began with last year's III (Part One). Stark, ominous, unrelenting, it's a vision of the other side as viewed from the shadows. On a starless night. While wearing shades. The Fast Show's Johnnny Nice Painter ("Black!") would invert his world view in an instant were he ever to be confronted by its unremitting bleakness.

Hearing the band describe its genesis – Part II was recorded on an island near Helsinki reached only by boat across chill, murky waters – makes the journey across the Styx sound like punting on the Cam. And K-X-P enter their own underworld with nary a nod to the ferry man. There's a point during Transuranic Heavy Elements where the bludgeoning beats pause and something (Guitars? You? The earth?) begins to howl, and you think: This is probably not for everyone.