It's no secret that drummer Paal Nilssen-Love is a connoisseur of the more extreme regions of rock – and his bludgeoning performance on The Thing's latest album Boot! made that more obvious than ever. So, it makes perfect sense for him to team up with guitarist Plotkin, a veteran of heavy-as-plutonium outfits such as Khanate and Phantomsmasher, and remixer of Sunn O))) and others. From the opening seconds, Plotkin's raw, bleeding sound makes it very clear he's playing LOUD – so much so, that Nilssen-Love, normally the most thunderous thing in the room, hunches into a seething background snarl. But, as Plotkin settles into a churning, pukesome drone, Nilssen-Love somehow finds extra reserves of firepower, overlaying the guitar with waves of crashing detail. It's almost as if they've negotiated an inversion of the traditional drum/guitar dynamic, with the percussion taking the lead role over the axe's grinding sonic grids. It all adds up to an exhilaratingly brain-smashing set.