Today, Richmond underground metal lifers Inter Arma release New Heaven, their first album of new material in five years. All the advance singles — the title track, “Concrete Cliffs,” “Desolation’s Harp” — were titanic, and I kept meaning to listen to the advance stream of the full album, but I guess I never got around to it. Maybe that’s why I was so surprised when I played the record today and the last track came in.

New Heaven ends with “Forest Service Road Blues,” a bleak and countrified hymn that reminds me of stuff like Nick Cave and Wovenhand. I was not expecting it. New Heaven is almost entirely serrated, noisy heaviness. The album draws a whole lot of power from old-school noise-rock and never falls into any particular metal subgenre. It’s intense, and it’s really good. It doesn’t prepare you to hear the clean baritone vocals, mournful violin, and heavy-hearted piano of “Forest Service Road Blues.” Inter Arma went left with this song, and it sounds awesome. Listen below.

And here’s the full album stream for New Heaven, which is well worth your time.

New Heaven is out now on Relapse.