Their sound is close to the technical insanity that is in vogue, but it’s performed with a clarity that puts it far above the dregs of show-off wankery.
There’s good-hearted hamminess to be found in most any power metal band, desperate as so many of those bands are to emulate Iron Maiden’s battle anthems.
Watain are happy to stick with the blastbeat/wall of sound hallmarks of the genre. But they twist these conventions in such creative and satisfying ways.
The Panic Broadcast reveals itself to be a great record, sitting alongside the Swedes’ last few albums, but not matching the brilliance of Natural Born Chaos.