French veterans Nesseria promise the most varied release of their career with Cette Erosion De Nous-Mêmes, and on the first listen to opening track On Prendra L’Habitude you can see they’re not lying. The song lurches through all manner of styles and moods in its three minute duration, packing so much in that the song actually feels twice that duration. In a good way.

Although they’ve made their name as purveyors of metallic hardcore over the years, there’s a lot more going on on this record than that rather-limiting soubriquet might suggest.

La Chasse Aux Écureuils is tortured, febrile screamo done right with just a hint of the sort of modern black metal currently being purveyed by the likes of Deafheaven and Ghost Bath thrown in to add a bit of (possibly controversial) spice, with some superb chiming, sonorous guitars closing the song out in a downbeat yet anthemic style.

The acoustic-led À L’Usure gives a little respite before the epic St Petersburg erupts from the speakers. Immense in every respect, and sounding like Cave In after an excessively long interaction with the angry pills, the song, built around wave after wave of squalling guitars from Benoît Gaucher and Jérôme Meyer and an impassioned, throat shredding vocal from Dez builds and builds the intensity before an impressive diminuendo leaves a gaping hole where the maelstrom ruled just a second before. The madness returns, of course, battering the listener almost senseless as the song reaches its conclusion.

The blustering Forteresse is more what you’d expect from Nesseria, but Pris À La Gorge takes the inherent brutalism of the band’s usual stance and twists it into something rather beautiful, Penultimate track Dans L’Ombre Et Sans Visage opens with an all-out doom assault before settling down into another slice of stark, bombastic, black-metal informed screamo, Dez once again risking a hernia to produce some of the most gut-wrenching howls you’ll hear all year.

The cinematic instrumental title track closes proceedings in stirring fashion, letting the listener down gently back to the real world after the rollercoaster they’ve been given over the past half hour or so. This is a fine album, strongly recommended for those with slightly more left-field musical tastes – give it a go!

Cette Erosion De Nous-Mêmes is out now on Throatruiner Records