The first half of "Venom Hell," the second cut on the first album in five years from Zozobra, is a feint: The Boston trio chugs along, the guitar cutting a jagged path over a burly rhythm section. They shift direction slightly for a chorus, but the steamroller status remains intact until the instrumental break. That’s when Adam McGrath peels away from the march, using oscillating effects and the high end of his six strings to scatter a surprisingly kaleidoscopic solo over the plenty-tough bass and drums.

But the unseen knockout arrives when he rejoins the trio, his thicker tone goading the band to play harder and heavier than they do on the rest of Savage Masters. Like Unsane covering Converge, they buffet that earlier riff and rhythm, beating their way to the other side of a righteous coda. It’s worth the wait.

[from Savage Masters; out 04/02/13 via Brutal Panda]