It's fair to say that when you find a band you love and fall hard for, your relationship with them becomes addictive, all-consuming, and you can't wait for your next fix. Meet your new met(h)al hit: NECRO WEASEL. Since first reviewing these hard-nosed, instinctually brassed-off metalpunks, life has improved 10X for me. Gone are the days of feeling like I'm urinating razors into the wind with my sociopolitical worries and strife; NECRO WEASEL cradled my sorrows, slathered them in napalm, and pelted them like fireballs into its music to set the world ablaze with its fervent attitude towards contemporary issues that make a mark on mankind.

The Finnish hellions of metalpunk and misery return with the sixth opus, "Feel the Speed", pure thrash-infused punky postulation, bludgeoning as a ceaseless riff machine to singlehandedly take on the world's shitstorms in a way only NECRO WEASEL know how. Since its inception, NECRO WEASEL has flown the flag for the downtrodden and challenged political pontification, so it's apt that the album should kick off with the devastating "Divide and Conquer". With the razor-sharp solos and d-beat fury, the abrasive vocals sound especially caustic - as if gargling broken glass - to set the tone for an album of all-out, uncompromising fury. The title-track brings some delicious riffs to salivate over with a speed metal output that you want to soak up and eat, bleeding into the ceaseless aggression of "Doctrine of War", a maelstrom of seething, infernal energy that powers through a traumatising thematic with a befitting apoplexy of crushing drum fills and haunting melodies, in amongst some seriously catchy riffage.

NECRO WEASEL's music isn't about being a "three bags full" crowd pleaser, nor is it designed for the degenerate yes-man arse-licker; it's all about delivering something very pure and impassioned from the heart, stamping out the ugly emptiness that immaterial music brings, and tackling topics that only those who have an aptitude for thrashy, punkier flavours will truly appreciate. Harnessing this raw, no gimmicks energy makes the likes of "Hesitation Wounds" extremely visceral, flexing with the band's signature divebomb guitar and some seething blasts walloped in for good measure, and a chorus and refrain that earworm for days. "No One is Safe" rages in its swirl of bad-tempered, thrash-fuelled vexation, with the punk styled vocals escalating into the ferocious "Less Resources" where a possessed hummingbird of double-kicks awaits in something that escalates into a more black metal-tinged affair. With some hardcore influences thrown into "Dying Forgotten", this palpable track hits your core with its sore hurt, and "Just Keep Bleeding" further compounds the band's anger into a raging thrash attack.

Six albums in, NECRO WEASEL continue to castigate and educate without compromise. Every drop of passion is as concentrated as previous releases in "Feel the Speed", and there's not an ounce of dilution in the band's exponentially speedy thrash-punk lens. In fact, it's safe to say that NECRO WEASEL has managed to elevate its sound to far angrier levels than experienced in its previous works - something that I personally didn't think could be possible - where swelling sincerity and bruising sonics marry to produce one of the finest releases the underground has blessed us with of 2023. This is no strings attached, no bullshit metalpunk that unapologetically body slams you to the ground, and if you love your music hulking in substance with as much hit as a speedball, you really should get on the NECRO WEASEL bandwagon: you'll be hooked.

The album will be available to purchase via Bandcamp on Friday 4^th August (which, incidentally, falls on a Bandcamp Friday where they waive their revenue and the artist receives 100% of the sales), or through Foxhole Productions on cassette. With a full house, "100% certified Metal Maiden Filth" score, this is a release you don't want to miss.