The fact that this record was released on Metal Blade Records should signal the group's heavier new direction – it is without a doubt their loudest release to doubt. But record label status couldn't possibly sum up this unique slate of music. Kept fresh by yet another lineup change, the hardcore heroes keep the adrenaline and aggression pumping full throttle more than a decade into their career.

Completely unpredictable changeups, dissonant tapping guitar leads, and a consistently level pissed off voice make for a brutality the likes of which Shai Hulud have never quite touched upon before. Their intricate, disorienting leads sprawl endlessly through uncountable rhythms and manic drum changes, but still manage to sound totally flowing. The song title "Chorus of the Dissimilar" perfectly sums up the album's style of melody, a perfect blend of ugliness and catchiness. These are really messed up riffs, but you can't help but want to hum along to them.

Frankly, every single song on the album blew me away, but if you were in a situation where you could only hear one track (which would be bulls***!), "Cold Lord Quietus" is completely amazing. The percussiveness of the riff is almost mechanical in the vain of rhythmically-melodic groups like Minus the Bear (although its movement all around the scale is more reminiscent of Mastodon). As it fades out, closing the album, the quiet[us] is reflective – the brain processes the insane overload of riffs that'd just been thrown at it – and the listener is left wanting more.

After five years of silence (which is hard to imagine from a group so unrelentingly loud), Misanthropy Pure is definitely a disc worth having waited for. It packs so many surprises that the replay value is excellent, even if the "headbanging value" is pretty low because it's damn near impossible to follow the turns! (Don't worry, that wasn't a real complaint.) This is about as good as metal gets right now, so give it the glory that it deserves.

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