MONGRELS CROSS - Psalter Of The Royal Dragon Court (LP)

Here, these hooligans take everything that made their Sins of Aquarius album so grimily gratifying - the widescreen span of filthy thrashing, down-tempo war-marches, and epic metal grandeur alike - and render it all the more terrifying and triumphant through clear 'n' cutting production. It's the age-old axis of form meeting content, and rarely has a metal record this cleanly produced sounded so threatening, which simply underlines the powerful panache to the band's strong songwriting.