Menace Ruine are one of those bands which inspire on the listener feelings of strangeness, complexity and otherwordliness. It's the sort of music that's bound to acquire all those hideous tags like "avantgarde" or "experimental" (and it does, look), and this is partly where their genius resides. Analyzing their finest release so far, 2008's 'The Die Is Cast', for example, it's not really that complicated. Even the mixture of different elements isn't all that warped out to begin with. There's the occasional bit of black metal, some harsh drone parts and some others more atmospheric, an overall industrial feel with some martial rhythms thrown in among the quasi-medieval folk ambiance and solemn, austere chanting.

Yeah, put like that, it doesn't sound all that extraordinary. But it is, oh yes it is. 'The Die Is Cast' was the culmination of three releases, the band's first, all of them in 2008, signaling the end of a quick and astonishing metamorphosis, from the rather forgettable worm that was the 'In Vulva Infernum' demo, to the more elaborate chrysalis that was the abrasive debut 'Cult Of Ruins', to that fully formed creepy butterfly. With tentacles. Black tentacles. All gooey and writhing around you. Haunting and beautiful at the same time, especially during Geneviève's (the female half of the duo) sung litanies, sounding for all the world as if Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry were abducted by demons and are being forced to perform 'Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun' under torture.

Anyway, a discographic pause was much needed after that 2008 onslaught, but two years seemed quite enough already, and fortunately now we have a brand new album, 'Union Of Irreconcilables' , out on Aurora Borealis, which seems so far as yet another daunting step into whatever fresh hell it is that the Canadian duo are taking us this time. Seemingly more drone-based but still maintaining that oddly unique locked-in-a-dungeon/lost-in-the-woods-at-4am paradoxical mix of feelings, it will take some digesting still before a more apt description can be reached.

At its most approachable, Menace Ruine are a sort of cold and industrialized version of the tragically missed The Angelic Process. At its nastiest, they're the deformed offspring of Nadja and Merzbow. In either case, they're essential.

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Learn to dread the Wednesday, for it always brings José's band of the week. Dread your e-mail client too, if you ever dare to suggest anything to jose.bandoftheweek@gmail.com. I might even reply. Ohhhh.