KONVENT ‘Puritan Masochism’

Denmark have more than twice as many metal groups per capita as the UK. How many of those Danish groups are women isn’t clear, but Konvent have been making waves since forming in Copenhagen six years ago. The female quartet bring new shades of darkness to doom with their debut album, Puritan Masochism. Doubling down on claustrophobic bleakest Rikke Emilie List’s guttural vocals are a match made in hell for Sara Helena Nørregaard’s wall of guitars. It’s gratifyingly relentless. Arpeggiated chords bring some tonal contrast, albeit at a funeral pace, to the double knock out punches of Ropes Pt.I and Pt.II for a monumental end of times finale. As pitch black debuts go, this is divinely gruesome.