Those familiar with Dais Records know them for their gorgeously packaged experimental, noise and electronic releases. But while the packaging for Harassor’s Into Unknown Depths is indeed beautiful, the musical content will come as a bit of a shock to longtime followers of the bi-coastal label. Harassor play pure, hateful, blistering black metal tinged with punk and thrash furor.

The sound on display here will not be surprising, however, to those who have heard the band’s previous releases. The LA trio (guitar, vocals, drums, no bass) have been kicking around for a bit more than a decade now and have a couple ripping albums under their belt for the venerable Southern Lord imprint. Into Unknown Depths plays very much as a continuation of that output. Harassor don’t bother to change much aesthetically to fit in with their new labelmates and that is a good thing. What you get is simple: 13 blistering, misanthropic ragers coming in at just over 40 minutes.

There is no campiness to their take on black metal, no pretensions of transcendentalism or mythopoetic atavism. HARASSOR live in the real, modern world, which it turns out is evil and fucked up enough without embellishment. Which is not to say there is no fun to be had here: the nods to old school hardcore punk and rock n roll on tracks like “M.D.P.” and “The Harassor” offer, if not levity, at least a cathartic release of tension. That is what music like this is all about really, and this album offers it in spades.

Into Unknown Depths is available now via Dais Records.