Does this 25-minute album by Pennsylvania’s Infernal Stronghold live up to the moniker? By and large, it does. This is a raw, crusty critter that sounds like it was cranked out in the garage during a weekend of booze, drugs and repeated playbacks of mid-90s Darkthrone. The band looks like a bunch of guys who are holding down the night shift at the local Exxon so thankfully we aren’t dealing with Casio keyboard-clutching clowns and inept music.

You can’t tell many of the songs on Godless Noise apart – they are short bursts of blackened agitprop – so the effect is like a live performance. Although some of the songs are redundant tracks like “Crashing Trucks Into Churches,” create an almost blackened punk aesthetic. They haven’t mastered this raw art form like obvious influences Fenriz and Nocturno Culto – and they play much faster than the Norwegians have of late – but the complete lack of finesse and delicacy is enticing. The packaging and artwork is also unlike anything I’ve seen of late, the cover hinting at primal cosmic chaos.

There aren’t many memorable riffs here, and repetition is a problem. But somehow the band has created an album that rises above curiosity to occasionally be compelling. Godless Noise, indeed.