Anil Carrier obviously likes keeping himself rather busy. As if he is not in enough bands at the moment already (
) the multi-instrumentalist has now gone and hooked up with vocalist Daniel Jones Gillett of The Fever Sea and set up yet another one. It’s hardly surprising considering that Throes are centred on the extreme side of things but what is impressive is that their debut release has been quickly picked up by German label Naturmacht Productions.
I have to admit that I reviewed this elsewhere and it has been a few weeks since I last gave it a spin, it’s certainly worthy of getting a bit more coverage though and I was keen to reacquaint myself with it for a fresh perspective and pressing play found myself wandering back into the meandering and depressively edged industrial soundscape of opener ‘Sleepwalker.’ It’s atmospheric from the start with ghostly voices and sombre tones blocking out any light from the sky. The slow intro part is just a precursor for a massive barraging explosion with the words “stay calm” being swiped aside by a hefty and battering deluge of drums and raw and horrendous vocal rasps. With guitars strimming away like a hive of swarming bees it attacks from every angle and in a fashion that to me is kind of akin to the onslaught of Anaal Nathrakh. There are some desolate parts lurking within the maelstrom though and these give it the industrial edge and cast an eerie shroud over it all with the fluid interspersed facets of all-out rage and moribund dismalness merging together perfectly. ‘Exponent’ unleashes fury and batters away with a massive bruising battery about it, swaggering and charging away like a proverbial bull in a place selling lots of glass things. Strange tones drop in pausing the onslaught before they all hone back in and attack once more. Melody is strong despite the velocity and the slower parts allow you to gather your breath momentarily before everything piles back in. This may be just a duo but you have to wonder if it might well develop into more of a live outfit as some of these powerful blasting parts are designed to cause a pit full of ugly.
“I feel the cold death surrounding” are portentous words and the trembling guitars slowly uncoiling around them on Hellion give a sinister drama to things before again the track explodes. There’s a bit of a feel of Portal about this as it swarms and drives away bordering between death and black metal and full of malevolence. It’s really quite foul and ugly but it’s also rather beautiful as it glistens and glimmers away, a demon to some… indeed. Vocals are coarse gurgling away and biting bloody chunks out of you from the darkness, there’s no escape from these labyrinthine tunnels. Somewhere amidst the deluge are some guests getting in on the action Myk Barber of Prostitute Disfigurement, Demonstealer of Demonic Resurrection and Kenji Kuroda of Zothique who so impressed me recently. All are very different bands and they certainly make this whole thing far more multinational in essence too. Trying to figure out where they fit in on the whole thing is not so easy however. Also worth mentioning is the way the band sample emergency calls within the heaving destruction of numbers like Narcoanalysis, it may a trick done by others before but it is particularly effective. Fifth and last track ‘Caveat’ at a monstrous 10 minutes is likely to destroy anyone still standing. It broods away with some ‘guest vocals’ (I am guessing) helping out and layering things with a certain gruffness whilst guitars stalk and stab away and drums run along in a headlong dash. This one definitely goes for the slow torturous kill rather than dispatching victim quickly but is no less clinical for it.
This is a particularly impressive debut and one that leaves you feeling like you have watched a particularly harrowing mondo movie such as Death Scenes and felt particularly disgusted doing so. In that respect Throes definitely hit the mark and leave you with a nasty taste in the mouth as well as a ringing in the ears.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
22/04/2015 at 3:06 pm
Awesome. Will have to pick this one up.