THRONEUM / KINGDOM - ThronDom des Bösen (GODZ OV WAR - Split LP 2021)
I am not really sure why I decided to buy this split LP. Both bands may have a solid position in my collection with quite few releases on LP and CD, but I cannot say that they belong to my top favourites. I lost interest in Throneum ever since they did “Death Throne Entities” LP. Some of their later albums were just unlistenable to me. But it was their 2020’s “Oh Death... Oh Death... Determinate, Preach and Lead Us Astray...” album, which kind of threw me back to Throneum music. It’s a surprising album – both with the quality of the music, but also with its sound and style. On the other hand, Kingdom can seem to be a safer choice, their albums are mostly solid... But the last effort “Rotting Carcass Arise upon the Burial Mound” didn’t return to my playlist for some time now, because I felt that it’s more mediocre and not as good as some of their earlier recordings. With this split I hoped for something great and special from both bands... and well, I am afraid that it did not fill this expectation.
Starting with Throneum... Four songs on this 12” are quite a good continuation of the recent album. Obviously, the main style of their music is a malicious, chaotic and insanely noisy death / black metal, with its very raw, primitive production and inhuman screams of Tom, which sometimes feel like were completely out of tune and incidentally glued to the music. You need to get used to it, to be honest, but once you do, then it can turn out that Throneum has a lot of great shit to offer. This poisonous, sinister metal of death has something unique and I really need to admit that Tom has a lot of my support and admiration for how consequent and loyal to his root he is. Damn, it’s been twenty years now since his band Throne debuted and since I got their debut demo cassette. Time flies... and he’s still there, playing his own lunatic shit. On this particular split two songs do stand out. “Affirmation” for all its psychedelic and weird arrangements and keyboards, which are something new in Throneum music. And Unholy’s cover “Neverending Day” - absolute killer and best song here, with a truly dark, malicious atmosphere and awesome female vocals, which have almost a mesmerizing influence. And remind me some sort of witching yells during the ritual. Really damn cool, although I can realize that Throneum music is not easy and not for everyone. It may take few spins, before you will get used to its chaotic nature. But give it a chance.
As for Kingdom, I am a little bit confused. On one hand they prepared something special, because there’s just one song titled “Ścieżka Nicości” and it is over eleven minutes long, which is something we haven’t experienced yet in this band. I can say that there are some good riffs again (I like that slow, opening theme the most) and that there’s a great, obscure aura of primitive death metal, which always characterized Kingdom music. On the other hand, the production could be better. Guitars sound a bit weak, but I especially don’t like that damn snare drum, which in fast parts basically kills all other instruments and give more chaotic and even more primitive sound. I have nothing against harsh production, don’t get me wrong... but in this case, I feel like it wasn’t done properly. I lack a bit of that heaviness and death metal morbidity, which was on such “Sepulchral Psalms from the Abyss of Torment” album. So, my impression is that Kingdom did better stuff in the past and this song is simply mediocre. Forgettable too. Oh, there’s also a Sisters of Mercy cover, but I do not like it at all... Which is kind of normal for me, because I tend to dislike all covers, which Kingdom features on their albums haha. Sooo, this side of the split did disappoint me truly.
Standout tracks: “The Death Like Silence”, “Neverending Day”
Verdict: 70/100
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