Paul Hutchings decides to attempt to use recent podcast guests Yersins’ debut album ‘Guilt’ as a hangover cure..

Here’s my top tip for you, completely free of charge. If you have a headache of any shape, size or intensity, don’t try and review anything from Yersin. Having made that mistake, I gritted my teeth and ground through the pain barrier. But boy, this one hurt.

I’m hard to pressed to name much that has come out of Sunderland in recent times, although I’ve got a great friend who seems okay, but I digress. Yersin aim to batter you senseless with their visceral mix of grind, thrash and crust and the North East trio manage that without too much trouble. From the opening title track through to the grand finale of Demonslayer, this is a relentless barrage which provides little comfort. Bleak, explosive and ferociously aggressive, tracks such as the statement Northern Stronghold, the cacophony of Destroyer which is a total one minute head whack and the doom laden riff fest intro of Executioner’s Bong leave you in little doubt about what you are getting.

With influences that include Napalm Death, Mayhem, Municipal Waste and Converge there was never going to be a ballad or easy listening track to calm the nerves and neither should there be. Defiance surges through the 31 minutes with a maelstrom of devilish blasting. The mix of black metal and skin flaying thrash is irresistible whilst the subject matter is certainly dark. Fritzl for example is chilling whilst the track Scrotal Sacrilege, well, let’s just leave it at that shall we.

Despite the sheer wall of noise that Yersin conjure up, Guilt is a solid release. Heavier than a elephant carrying a bag of anvils, it veers towards the more extreme end of thrash but the approach is such that they will appeal to a wider range of fans who want their metal served raw with no garnish.

Guilt is out now on BandCamp and streaming services