Following on from the recent release of Polish black metal trio THAW’s sophomore album, the band have also put out a compilation, comprising their first demo ‘Decay’ and an EP ‘Advance’.
‘Decay’ was originally self-released by the band and contained nine songs, the re-release through Witching Hour sees this ramped up to 11 tracks, bringing the total playing time up from 45 minutes to an hour. One thing that has been left alone, however, is the production quality; it’s easy to hear from listening to this release and then THAW’s most recent works how a little decent mixing goes a long way. The reverb drenched piano and crashing cymbals created a distorted wall of noise that at times can feel overly oppressive and completely indecipherable. The vocals pendulum between depraved howls, the sort you’d expect to hear on a DSBM record and the robotic frog chorals of Dagon from Inquisition. The entire record is pulsating with static and when you stop to consider the quality of the music that THAW are currently producing then you have to wonder whatever possessed them to re-release this.
There’s no information regarding ‘Advance’ within the band’s back catalogue, however, judging from the clarity within the four songs featured it would be safe to assume that this was recently recorded. The drone element of THAW’s trademark sound takes a backseat on this EP and they possess an echoey grandiose sound that Behemoth are famed for, with even the vocals taking on a gnarlier more aggressive tone.
If this compilation proves anything, it’s how versatile THAW are as musicians. It’s also a stark reminder of the past and how far they’ve come as a band with their sound. To be perfectly honest though, this certainly isn’t essential listening and fans are much better off sticking with the self-titled album and ‘Earth Ground’.
(6.5/10 Angela Davey)
Leave a Reply