I don't know what I expected when I first pressed play on "A War of Souls and Desires", but I can be certain that I wasn't ready for what followed. What I got was eight tracks of brutal intensity that never lets up and never stops hammering that vicious sound in to your head. KRYSTHLA made an instant impression with their extreme assault to the ears, and it's an impression that had me instantly hooked.

The members of KRYSTHLA are in no way new to the extreme metal scene, being in bands DEADEYE and GUTWORM before coming together 2012 to form KRYSTHLA and finally their debut album is upon us. The entire thing is loud, fast, angry, and so incredibly precise that it had me genuinely surprised that these boys from Wellingborough, UK, are not signed to a major label.

It's often hard to understand, but the songs have decent meaning to them, all focusing on major issues over the world which clearly bother the band, as the issues do to many people. It's not the sort of awareness you'd typically expect from music this heavy, but it's great to see it happening. "Minority of One" opens the album and is what had be hooked right from the start. It somehow makes its special kind of ugly, extremely beautiful with the dark guitar riffs and fast solos which are over almost as soon as they begin. "Luminosity" is probably the track that will hook most people, as it has the catchiest riffs and slows down the pace a little from what dominates most of the album. "H+" had me appreciating the drumming more than anything, with a superb amount of precision put in to such a fast and heavy song. It almost sounds digital, with how perfectly in time it is. It's not often that the drummer in a band gets the respect that they deserve, but Wayne Minney certainly deserves every bit of praise coming to him. "Caged Earth" is the weak link here, as it doesn't really offer anything special in an otherwise pretty exciting album. "By Way of Deception" is very similar to "Minority of One" in many ways, especially with the somewhat dark sounding riffs and short solos. "The Human Cipher" is  full of blast beats and stilted vocals which seem to work and is sure to have anyone in attendance at a show, forming a circle pit instantly. "Praise Thee In Flesh" builds more on the previous track, upping the speed and intensity but keeping the quick blast beats from the drums, albeit with a little more precision when the blasts aren't hitting. The album closes with "An Ancient Hope" which offers a great performance yet again from Wayne Minney on the drums, but also from the vocals of Adi Mayes, as he shows a little more range in his screams. The guitar gets somehow pretty for a little while in the middle of the song before going straight back to extreme. This works well for the song as it stands out from the brutality as a rare beautiful moment.

If you like your metal extremely heavy and about as intense as humanly possible, KRYSTHLA is definitely the band for you. "A War Of Souls and Desires" is a great debut, only let down but a lack of variety in its eight brutal tracks. Keep your eyes open for KRYSTHLA, as they could make it huge one day.

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