Stalwarts of the Polish scene, Throneum have been around in one form or another since way back in 1996 and have a huge array of releases leading up to this their tenth album. Paths should certainly have crossed anyone into tales of Morbid Death over the years but it has to be said that this album came as a bit of a surprise. I can’t say that I have followed Throneum personally but was expecting something in the way of battering brutality from them but as the title suggests they have gone and got a bit weird over the years. It seems that they have perhaps got ever closer to Luciferian diabolism, you can tell that by the fact that three of these tracks are very brief instrumental interludes that are named as Tetragrammaton related to the Biblical name of the God of Israel, YHWH. All parts of the puzzle I presume on an album that is going to leave many scratching heads in bemusement. Whether the group listed here as predominantly T.G. EXECUTOR and Diabolizer have been travelling further down esoteric left-hand paths or not is open to question but whilst searching for magical diabolism they have broached the avant-garde and the downright weird in leading up to this album. Everything about it is odd and bordering on the unhinged, right down to the striking artwork and the all red presentation of the disc and even the casing it is housed in.

If you are in search of death metal madness you are in the right place as the 15-minute first number ‘Alpha: soulside-space-stream’ slowly creeps in before a holler is unleashed and drums thud beating a heady tribal tattoo. Amidst the grinding guitar work it’s the vocals that are the strangest, bestial unhinged cavernous yells that seem to have little form but actually appear to be in English, just not like any form of it I have heard before. Sounding as though they are calling down demons they actually strike as poetic if one reads the actual lyrics and tell of what seems to be a voyage of irreligious self-discovery. Musically this is not fast but slithers and slides with an intriguing guitar sound. Bordering on psychedelia at times, the pace broods and occasionally bites with an injection of speed amidst the drum flurries and the instruments are all clearly defined, doing their own things in the mix but somehow holding together as a combined force. Despite the length of the track it’s hallucinatory and quality does not make it an ordeal rather mesmerising the listener with morbid and labyrinthine progressions and an overall macabre primitivism. The Greek alphabet continues for the first two AGLA-on-tetragrammaton segments (Beta and Gamma). Strange Kraut Rock radiophonic soundwaves beam the first transmission whereas the second some (nek)romantik piano work, all very odd. Delta is the next long number of ‘self-appointed-grandeur’ and ups the velocity with a flurry of blasting, thudding drum-work as the vocalist viciously yelps away. It sounds like someone just discovering tools and using them to violent effect but as we lurch through the chasms a strange operatic voice intrudes courtesy of Pia ‘Luzzi’ Deckert reminding of a mix of early Celtic Frost and Christian Death as the music slows with an improvised feel about it all as though the players are being channelled by higher forces. I don’t quite know what to make of it all but I do like it and as it moves from calmness to mania find myself caught in its grip. I think the female vocals really help add some diversification and make the music all the stranger and more sinister.

After Epsilon Tetragrammaton gives a brief drum roll over pagan sounding horror movie music we get to the final lengthy segment ‘Zeta:archangel-lucifer-god’ seemingly picking up just where Delta left off and continuing on its gravid way with some real strange instrumentation including jazzy bass solos and some shrill sharp guitar melody. If you are looking for something a bit different, embrace the death and the madness within, this one will definitely lead you astray!

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)

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https://throneumofficial.bandcamp.com/album/oh-death-oh-death-determinate-preach-and-lead-us-astray