After their first two immensely popular releases, the darlings of Danish heavy music have reached a point in their career where the effect of novelty could very well be gone.

Surprises are hard to stir up as the four-piece has used well-nigh all the rock’n’roll tricks you can come up with on the two previous releases. The Johnny Cash and Elvis thing will not make us swoon, other bets must be made, one thinks.

But, what do you know, the four lads from Volbeat manage to surprise again without losing touch with what they’ve built so far.

Apart from cementing a style that must have Volbeat's copyright mark all over it, Michael Poulsen and his cohorts throw in a bit of orchestration here, a female vocalist there, a reggae intro somewhere else and the odd silly title Maybellene I Hofteholder (Danish for ‘Maybellene wears a suspender belt’).

Poulsen himself is slicker and more controlled behind the mike than he was before. He sounds less Keith Caputo and more rock’n’roll. I suppose that’s development, even though I miss that wildness a wee bit in one or two songs. He’s turned out to be a truly excellent singer, let there be no doubt about that.

The hit factory is grinding from the outset after the slide guitar intro End of the Road, when the rocking title track and its worming guitar figures starts the ball. Back to the Prom is a short, straightforward rocker whereas Mary-Ann’s Place has a slower, driving pace and one of Michael Poulsen’s best vocal performances in duet with the lovely Pernille Rosendahl (The Storm, formerly Swan Lee). The track ends with a speed metal blast, to my great joy.

Hallelujah Goat is another straightforward metal rocker in the characteristic Volbeat fashion, whereas the first single from the album, Maybellene I Hofteholder represents one of the most catchy pieces on the disc, mainly due to Poulsen’s vocal lines. This is going to be a great sing-along for the next tour, I’ll bet your arse.

The country rock sound is pulled out for the intro of We, only to be substituted by chugging guitars and lots of melody. There’s a slide solo in there as well – not bad at all.

Still Counting begins with a light, reggae inspired piece. After one minute of that, Volbeat step on the rock pedal and fire away with the rock machine, but still keeping the reggae as an underlying threat…

Light A Way is a ballad of sorts and sees Poulsen in great shape plus a bit of orchestration. This leads into the Master of Puppet-esque Wild Rover of Hell, on of the straightest thrashers Volbeat have done so far.

Elvis and Hank Williams get a tribute with a cover of I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, in my ears the closest we come to an expandable track on the album, but still funny enough.

Broken Man And The Dawn is a true staccato Volbeat straight-forward rocker with a soft intro and that leads to the final track proper, Find That Soul, that has a spooky intro and sports a bombastic, thrashy riff.

Conclusion: Volbeat have done it again. We can look forward to another year with Volbeat on the road, filling concert halls across the continent. Go, boys.