Prior to debut album Pestilent Dawn, Midwest black/death dealers Throne only released one EP, Altar of the Dying, choosing instead to hone their songs and skills on the live stage. The end result is a focused, razor-sharp effort—streaming below—that should put Throne on the map for any death metal fan.
Pestilent Dawn clocks in at a lean half-hour runtime, which works to Throne’s benefit. Each song is packed to the gills—riffs, ferocious drumming, hints of melody, mosh parts to make you bang your head into the wall—and no time is spent being still. Throne are heavy on the black metal side of their sound, not shying away from blast beats, tremolo picking and raspy screams, but there’s a strong presence of boneheaded, downtuned death metal on Pestilent Dawn that really underscores the heaviness and dynamics of the album.
Standout tracks on the album include the title track, the heavier-than-average “Beyond Malice” and second track “Amongst the Sinners, They Came Forth.” Plus, the album ends on a high note with the sounds of zombies devouring human flesh, called “Humanity’s Dusk.”
“We wanted to really step it up with this release, building off of our EP and taking everything to 11,” Throne tell Decibel. “We have the same influences we’ve always had, but made it faster, heavier and more abrasive. We wanted to show more of our death metal influences and better balance our black metal elements. Being fans of Suffocation, Devourment and Defeated Sanity we also wanted to add some slam elements in the mix. Pestilent Dawn is an example of all the things that we love from the pantheon of metal melded into a single, cohesive entity.”
Listen to Pestilent Dawn below and pre-order the album before its April 9 release on Redefining Darkness.
