The weather has picked up, the skies are blue and the birds are chirping but right now I’m waiting for the sun to set and the temperature to drop as I have been served a slice of the murkiest doom from UK/German-based Thronehammer who have opened up a portal from hell, grabbing the listener and pulling them down into the flames of eternal damnation with new album Incantation Rites.
The album ominously begins with the 14-minute title track “Incantation Rites” which feels like it was recorded in the witch trial era, rain, screams, and terror-inducing drums pave the way for slow crushing riffs which is complemented by Kat Shevil Gillham’s foreboding vocals.
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“Thy Blood” starts off with really nice guitar work and a really catchy hook witch runs throughout. If fearsome battles took place now this would most definitely be used beforehand. Not to be outdone “Eternal Thralldom” also should be considered – out of all the tracks, lyrically, this is one that has become the one I’ve caught myself repeating.
All hail “A Fading King”! This had the same effect on me the first time I heard it as did Paradise Lost’s “As I Die”. This is not only a highlight track but one that’s going to stay with me for a long time. Every element of this track is wonderfully balanced and quite simply is heart-wrenching gothic doom at its finest
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There should’ve been only one way for the previous track to be followed and “Beneath Black Cloud Masses” takes on the challenge with an injection of sweeping misery immersing itself in a wall of swirling doom. Almost lulled into a false sense of security the gentle, serene opening to “Devouring Kingdoms” is quickly broken – don’t be fooled this may be the slowest song of the album but it’s still twinged with sorrow.
Lastly, at sixteen minutes “Of Mountaintops And Glacial Tombs” is the perfect representation of the album as a whole. I felt it encapsulates the overall aura and feel the band were going for. A gut-wrenching cacophony of terror.
Incantation Rites is released on March 4th
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