Holy Fuck - Latin

Given the rampaging style favoured by electro-noise quartet, Holy Fuck, it’s perhaps unsurprising that their first two albums – whilst tinged with moments of brilliance – had a tendency to lurch wildly between hit and miss.

Enter third album, Latin, which – although continuing to bring together their trademark mesh of frantic synthesis, tapered electronics and live instrumentation – boldly sweeps aside any notion of mediocrity in Holy Fuck's arsenal. Standout track, Stay Lit, sets a new standard – emerging amidst ethereal Album Leaf-like electronics before transcending that band’s tendency for restraint from under an obliterating avalanche of distortion, setting up a perfect balance of Holy Fuck’s disparate personalities.

When the balance is sacrificed momentarily – as on the unhinged SHT MTN – they trade wild exhilaration for downright schizophrenia. But this isolated moment is cast aside by the sheer force of brilliance which courses throughout the remainder of this inspired offering from the Torontonian outfit. [Paul Neeson]