With a new year upon us it's a good thing that German outfit Fear My Thoughts planned ahead and took an extra step to try and future-proof their sound. For on "Vulcanus" they make great strides at increasing the longevity of this foray by ensuring that their liberal doses of melodic thrash, black metal and death metal are all properly integrated into the songwriting.

In turn the group transcend much of their past work and actually elevate themselves above the catch-all genre tags by playing out their influences rather than haphazardly tacking them on. Whether it be the lush atmospheric keyboard parts (contributed by Kim Oelsen of Anubis Gates); the bands own astute dual-guitar driven melodies and staccato shredding; or even their ability to freely transform from melodic thrash to cacophonous modern black metal and beyond, there is much here worthy of headbanging to.

In fact, the only real problem with "Vulcanus" lies in that everything seems so immaculately constructed that the production polish can be a bit blinding at times. It's not necessarily a fault of the band or the producer, but with everything so clean and crisp, it almost sounds too overly sterile and processed and takes away from what could be a grittier, more dangerous vibe.

Sure some may gripe about the bands stylistic changes and how contemporary their approach has become, and in most cases they are right. It's not a stretch to say that this album could be tied to similar groups like Scar Symmetry and perhaps even Children Of Bodom. But even so, none of that is enough to stop "Vulcanus" from erupting with some impressive destructive force.