Ontario’s latest metal offering comes in the form of the relatively new Van Halst, who have just churned out their debut album – World Of Make Believe – and let’s just say, it is quite the belter.

This is a tremendous record from start to finish. Of course, you have your tasty selection of catchy headbangers such as The End, Monster and the thunderous title track.

But there are also an assortment of tunes that feature some incredibly vexing lyrics; in particular, Questions is a very strong piece that narrates an uncomfortably distressing story, which is brought to life so well through frontman Kami’s gripping, passionate performance.

Other numbers where the aforementioned qualities also shine through include the likes of Denying Eyes and Put Them Down.

World Of Make Believe on the whole is a phenomenal first album, courtesy of a group who can easily rise to become one of the central advocates of Canadian metal.