No apologies, no regrets. You may love this, you may hate it. One thing's for sure, Ginger Wildheart will bloody well mutate it.

You may well hate this album. Mutation doesn't care. That's not the point. 'Dark Black' is the third instalment in the Mutation process, the first two, 'The Frankenstein Effect' and 'Error 500' confusing the life out of many Ginger Wildheart followers when they arrived a few years back. Whether through The Wildhearts, Silver Ginger 5, Hey! Hello! or as a solo artist, the one thing you can expect from the Wild-one is hooks. Plenty of razor sharp, dig in deep, never to leave ya', hooks. Not here mate, not a chance. No way. All right then, maybe one or two...

He's not going to apologise for it, but Ginger calls Mutation "Extreme", but this is no throwaway Deathly Black Metal knock off – thankfully. However, you will receive a pummelling of noise you may never have experienced before. You may well recoil at the sheer ferocity of what greets you and you may well run to your mammy, asking her to save you from the bogeyman. I'll tell you now, there's nothing she can do to stop 'Dark Black' feasting on its prey. If you can survive the trial by noise that the first half of this album spits, shouts and still somehow shakes it all about, you'll be all the stronger for it.

Teaming up with Scott Lee Andrews (Exit_International) and, at times, Devin Townsend to create this beast, early exchanges may well prove a step too far as 'Authenticity' tears down your house and sits on the ruins, before the thump of 'Toxins' proves just as lethal as its name suggests. So far, so "extreme". For those in need of a little something to soothe the nerves, well, you'll find none of that here. Instead 'Irritant' challenges you not to sing the catchiest chorus line ever to contain the phrase "fuck off you c**t, you are an irritant". Worryingly you'll lose the bet and Tourette that line over and over while having tea with your Grandma... 'Skint' pulls on a more demented mask, hammering drums allowing a shout in time vocal to sledgehammer you clean off your feet, before 'Dogs' bares its teeth as though you've just landed in The Wildhearts love it or loathe it album, 'Endless Nameless'.

No apologies, no regrets. You may love this, you may hate it. One thing's for sure, Ginger Wildheart will bloody well mutate it.

Steven Reid