Mexican Black Metallers HACAVITZ are one of those bands who thrive on having no budget. Their albums sound rough and unpolished, all their promo photos are starved for color, and their logo looks like it was scanned from a rough pencil drawing. But all this only adds to the flavor that accompanies 'Darkness Beyond', which is HACAVITZ's fourth full length release. It sounds like it was recorded by four guys who are cut off from the world, going insane in a frozen Scandinavian forest, and only have access to equipment that regularly breaks down. It's not a genre-defining opus, but if you like your metal stark, venomous, and thoroughly un-commercial, there's a lot to enjoy here. Well, not enjoy perhaps but at least appreciate in a grim, pain ravaged kind of way.

Opener 'Terra Nihil' is designed to instantly grab the attention of anyone who misses the miserable old days when churches burned and guitarists were murdered. Singer Antimo Buannano has a satisfyingly ravaged voice box, and is a lot less screechy than most of his contemporaries. The riffs meanwhile are darkly ominous and plodding, while the rhythm section plays at a relentless pace. It's like a walking head on into an icy gale, and occasionally having fragments of human bodies tearing tiny cuts on your face.

'Deadream' and the title track are similarly relentless. The pace remains high and the band plays with as much desperation as if they were stuck on a sinking raft and this would be the last noise they make before disappearing into a swamp of perpetual despair. The trouble though is that with each track being less of a song and more of an endurance test, fatigue soon starts to set in.

There's a brief interlude during the instrumental 'Livskit,' but this is only a momentary respite before the onslaught begins again. Of the seven songs on offer, it's the only one that's less than six minutes in length, and things soon start getting repetitive. There's only so much machine-gun riffing, gargled screaming, and hailstones-on-windshields drumming you can't tolerate before the album gets monotonous.

That being said, fans of the most solidly unapproachable Black Metal should find this a rewarding listen. It's one of those records that perfectly capture the dark heart of underground music. There's not a hook or chorus or melody for the mainstream to catch onto and if that sounds like manna from hell, HACAVITZ will be right up your torture chamber.