And what of those songs? Without giving too much away – as you really need to discover their wickedly dramatic intricacies for yourself – each one is a blood-encrusted diamond, with more hooks than a Cenobite convention. So, Into the Wilderness with its gothic chanting backing vocals, Psychoberrie’s menacing vocal lines and some fabulous soloing ability is truly something to behold. In fact, the guitar work throughout from Dok Von Stottenstein is uniformly magnificent, displaying dazzling dexterity, phenomenal melodies and tasteful choices that form a key component in the textures and overall sound of the band.

At the Window meanwhile is quite a simply stunning piece of music that incorporates all Ward XVIs trademarks and more besides. Lush keys and an orchestral backing introduce the track, before Psychoberrie’s vocal comes in, sweeping and quieter at first, then the words are spat out, laced with venom and bile. Rage and anger personified, with another emotively devastating guitar solo from the Dok, to call it dramatic would be a colossal understatement – really this one needs to be heard again and again to begin to appreciate its sinister charms.

Then there’s the wonderfully titled Amoeba of Madness, almost gentle at least to start with, with delicate keys and a confessional vocal from Psychoberrie and once again we’re treated to some more of the most intelligent and erudite lyrics that you’re likely to hear, with guitars and keys complementing each other in a beautifully dark and melodic danse macabre.

All this talk of storytelling and theatricality is all well and good I hear you say, but does it actually rock? That’s an emphatic, hell yeah; take the fantastic Macabaret, that thunders along before the Dok unleashes a ridiculously amazing solo that is surely one of the album’s highlights. And of course, you can’t underestimate the visceral impact of first single Blood is the New Black initiated by a dark dystopian keyboard and guitar industrial metal intro, complete with a rip-roaring blood curdling death metal scream. Along the way we get the industrial metal with full on “whoa whoa” keys, Psychoberrie taking the reins with an almost rap like vocal throughout the verse, it’s constantly underlined with almost hypnotic, metronomic drums. The journey takes a huge left turn when an almost reggae break somehow manages to segue its way in before the full-on wrath of a death metal onslaught is unleashed, including a death metal scream rap! This track manages to completely terrify but will also have you bouncing and dancing along with it all at the same time.