I don’t really know too much about Thronehammer, except that the accompanying PR sheet says that the band are a UK / German based doom / sludge band. Metal Archives tells me that this is their second full length album, but other than that, this crew are a bit of a mystery to me. Who doesn’t like an unknown band?
From the beginning, Thronehammer aren’t messing about with their intent. The title track and opener is a massive epic weighing in at almost a quarter of an hour. This is not an album which is going to overly appeal to those of you without an attention span. With a sound that’s really all about the gravity, this is really something for those of you who like their doom epic, deep and atmospheric. Huge plus points for the truly unique voice of Kat Shevil, who has a clean but extraordinary deep vocal style. At a more-sprightly eight minutes, follow up track “Thy Blood” continues building up a sinister atmosphere with the nifty guitar intro and some really evocative drum work. I was minded of the more interesting music style of The Gates of Slumber, but with the punch of Rob Lowe era Candlemass backing it up. Really great stuff, to be fair.
“Eternal Thralldom” brings up the next track within the album, with its mid-tempo war-march, which really showcases the tremendously effective low-end rumble and martial bass work. From there on in, it’s a succession of tracks which all sprawl well over the ten minutes mark, with the album closer, “Of Mountaintops and Glacial Tombs” finally coming to rest after 15 minutes. In some ways, it really epitomises what is so fantastic about this record; a real ebb and flow, and a rare talent for producing something that while having foundations in the doom genre, has enough novel atmosphere to be able to carve something out of its own. It’s been a long time since I heard an album that really conjured images in my head – and while the band may or may not like this – I am immediately drawn to illustrating the music with Conan the Barbarian-esque scenes of fantasy and long-dead empires. This is the anathema to power metal, for sure, but by hell if it isn’t the soundtrack to the Dungeons and Dragons campaign you never played. When the epic riff rises on the closing track at about five minutes in, I defy any decent metal listener not to want to be raising their fist in the air. That a doom band can instil this kind of feeling, within the confines of a 15-minute epic track, is some kind of achievement.
Perhaps the greatest accolade is that while these songs are quantifiably long, they just don’t feel like them at all. Wide open aural vistas of the mind conjured by filthy, dirty doom and soaring vocals. We may not be able to get out of the house at the moment, but I’m telling you – bang this one and dim the lights, and you’re going to be riding across the plains of Hyboria in your mind.
(8.5/10 Chris Davison)
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