Replacing a larger than life frontman is fraught with danger. There is the fear of constant comparison, the jeopardy of fan acceptance and the expectation of that most delicate of beasts, the first post-split record. Kvelertak have faced this head on, put their collective feet on the accelerate and gone for broke. They have (rather successfully in my opinion) filled the hole left by Erlend Hjelvik with a truckload of meaty riffs and opted to carry on regardless. They have returned to the riotous black n’ roll of their first two records and for all intents and purposes acted like nothing had happen. 

“Splid” is everything that Kvelertak do spectacularly well, distilled into eleven insanely brilliant tracks. It is boisterous, banging and bombastic. This is a wild, intense, but ultimately explosively fun, sleigh ride through high octane Heavy Metal. This is nadir of melding catchiness with primal power. Every song is an instant classic, every song deserves to be sung lustily by surging crowds in packed venues, every song is a bona fide winner. Not only have Kvelertak come out fighting, but they have brought an entire nuclear arsenal with them. It is like they are looking every other album on this list in the eyes and going (in Norwegian of course) “That’s not Heavy Metal, this is Heavy Metal”.