If Lord Mantis’ Pervertor doesn’t have the most vile album cover you’ve seen this year, it should definitely make it into your top-10 come December.

The Chicago band’s talents go far beyond picking gruesome cover art, though–which was created by Justin Bartlett, I should add. Lord Mantis has the band’s latest LP is an incredible combination of the thick, bassy heaviness of sludge metal combined with the sinister and dark chord progressions found in black metal. It’s no surprise considering who is involved with this project: Pelican producer Sanford Parker and musicians from one of America’s most adventurous black metal acts, Nachtmystium.

The opening track from this LP, “Perverter of the Will,” blasts things wide open with some filthy, grime-covered production and punishing riffs. It’s pure brutality, but when some twisted guitar arpeggios come thorough at about a minute in, the whole feel of the track changes. There’s some real maniacal sickness behind the aggression here, adding another level of danger to the band’s sound. The vocals pretty extreme as well, delivering harsh and brittle screams on nearly every track.

Stream the entire Lord Mantis album here. Grab a copy on Candlelight Records.

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