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Germany’s Mystic Circle has been around nearly 30 years and on their eighth album, a self-titled affair, crank out some pummeling yet not unmelodic black/thrash metal. To my ears, they’ve taken the speed and vehemently anti-Christian imagery from second wave black metal and combined it with the kind of abusive proto death thrash first unleashed by Possessed (who they cover on this album) and Kreator. It’s a sonic assault from start to finish, broken up with occasional spoken-word interludes, and I have to say it goes by in something of a blur until the cover of Possessed’s "Death Metal". I find this song has more character than any of the original cuts on Mystic Circle, but I can appreciate what the band is doing, even if I can’t distinguish the songs all that well. If you are a fan of Thulcandra, Sacramentum and even early Dissection, Mystic Circle should have some appeal.