While there is little chance that Cradle of Filth will ever seem as subversive and untamed as they did during their first flush of infamy two decades ago, Suffolk’s leading purveyors of wildly theatrical extreme metal are still on excellent form. Hammer of the Witches offers the first fruits of a rejuvenated line-up, and pulls off the neat trick of being both a joyous nod towards past glories and a significant creative rebirth. Returning to the twin-guitar histrionics of earlier albums Cruelty and the Beast and Midian, these are the most vital and incisive songs Dani Filth has conjured from the dark ether in a long time. Loosely based on a typically mischievous and macabre tale of persecuted witches returning to exact revenge on their tormentors, the likes of Yours Immortally and Deflowering the Maiden, Displeasuring the Goddess get the balance between opulent arrangements and flat-out metallic attack just right, while Dani’s armoury of growls, screams and shrieks drives everything forward with Loki-like glee, particularly on the malevolent call-to-arms of Onward Christian Soldiers. Filthy, vicious fun, as always.