Together with drummer Ivar Loe Bjornstad and bassist Ellen Brekken, and recording with an eight-track tape machine, her Trio turn the full force of heavy rock and electric jazz to demonic purposes.

It can be sledgehammer sludge, stoned to a crawl as on "Arigato, Bitch'. Or it's nimble as a phantom on astapopoulos', a dizzying churn that's named after the archvillain of Hergé's Tintin cartoons.

And for the Mollestad Trio at its intuitive, ESP-connected finest, check "Liquid Bridges'.

"Laughing John" gestures towards the great Mahavishnu Orchestra guitarist as well as a music teacher, named Jon, who heavily influenced Hedvig's development.

The album's fine balance between looseness and control follows a year of world touring, and tracks reflect such odd venues as "La Boule Noire', a former Portuguese disco in Paris whose walls are studded with bullets from a gangland shootout.

Enfant Terrible follows the Trio's previous Rune Grammofon releases, the Spellemann (Norwegian Grammy) nominated All Of Them Witches (2013) and Shoot! (2011) and, like labelmates Bushman's Revenge, Elephant9 and Grand General, represent a thrilling new progressive wave of Norwegian avant rock/free metal energy.

Don't be fooled by the deceptively innocent portrait of Hedvig herself on the front cover - a rare example of designer Kim Hiorthoy working with classic black and white photography, and an unusual departure from Rune Grammofon's familiar digipacks.