Despite having three full-lengths’ worth of thrash-laced speed metal under their collective belt, Italy’s Baphomet’s Blood have remained under the radar. And on their fourth LP, In Satan We Trust, the band doesn’t take any sort of “out of left field” approach and serve up something unexpected; instead, they’ve polished up both their songwriting and sound and come away with an album that should, by all accounts, garner them some very deserved attention. The album is not without its faults, but overall it showcases a band poised to climb to the top of the speed metal heap.

Simply put: Baphomet’s Blood is good at speed metal. Their earlier material hinted at their talent, but was lackluster when it came to songwriting. The songs may have had catchy riffs and up-tempo drumming, but they didn’t feel cohesive. There were also sonic issues; the band came through too bottom-heavy, and up through their last release, Metal Damnation, it sounded like their recordings were done on a boom box. Still, with each effort it was clear the band had the fortitude and that their best work was yet to come.

But on In Satan We Trust everything falls into place. The sound and songwriting are much better. Same goes for the throwback-style guitar solo work that has, to this point, been buried in the mix. There’s a good bit of hero-worship at play—the band channels Slayer’s early-era groove on “Command of the Inverted Cross,” only to flip to a Painkiller-era Judas Priest sound on the title track—but thanks to their fantastic songwriting, this approach never sounds trite. Hearing the band string high-speed riffs together with some of their best guitar leads to date becomes engrossing and refreshing.

Then, of course, there are the vocals, which have slowly progressed from a raw and poorly enunciated form into sounding like Italy’s version of Lemmy. Gruff and authoritative, Necrovomiterror’s performance is the muscle behind the band’s robust playing. Helping matters throughout is the crystal clear production. The band’s sound had suffered in the past with too little clarity for the level of speed at which they play, particularly with the guitar work. This time shows a huge step up, allowing the listener to fully hear what this band is capable of.

All that being said, the album does suffer a bit from repetitiveness. “Underground Demons” and “Hellbreaker” sound like carbon copies of each other. What’s more, the stellar solos and vocal bravado found elsewhere on the album are tamed down here to the point of sounding lackluster—uninspired even.

The chinks in the armor aren’t enough to break your focus or keep you from wanting more. In Satan We Trust feels like the album Baphomet’s Blood have been working towards since their formation more than a decade ago. While their quality’s varied from album to album, the band’s vision and determination has been unyielding and consistent throughout—and it finally pays off here, with what’s easily the highlight of their career thus far.

-Josh

In Satan We Trust is available now on Iron Bonehead Productions. For more information on Baphomet’s Blood visit the band’s Facebook page.