Now this is fun – The latest album from the musical chameleon that is Myrkur.

Spine, like her previous works, is almost another change in musical direction but still with that DNA that links all her releases.

9 track and only 38 minutes long it’s a short but thrilling ride.

The black metal of the first couple of albums has almost been fully done away with except for occasional traces (the short burst of blast beat drums in Like Humans or the metal shrieks as backing vocals in Mothlike) and the folk influences are a lot less noticeable

A lot of the songs put that gorgeous voice front and centre with the music built around it - See the stunning piano ballad of My Blood is Gone for example. 

Like Humans is a perfectly formed pop song and those synths in Mothlike are as catchy as hell but both songs still have those eccentricities you only get with Myrkur.

Valkyrienes Sang is the closest track musically to old school black metal but topped with those clean crystalline vocals rather than the screams of yore.

A word also about the artwork which is just so beautiful.

Another album of the year contender