Throes: Disassociation

High-paced urban paranoia from the home of heavy metal

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Hailing from the metal capital of Birmingham (as well as the not-so-metal but somewhat more scenic Bristol), Throes are a duo consisting of A.C. from black/death metallers Towers Of Flesh and D.G from post-black outfit Fever Sea.

According to the press sheet, Throes is best described as “blackened death metal with electronic/industrial elements” and that’s a reasonable summary, although the BM element is relatively minimal and, for that matter, the electronic augmentation is mainly restricted to ‘true crime’ samples as well as a few tasteful and brief industrial passages.

There’s a definite touch of doom on tracks such as the crawling Hellion, something that contrasts sharply with the high-paced percussive assault evident on much of the rest of the record. So quite a mixed bag, and with a definite British feeling about the whole thing, with that latter-day urban feeling that a lot of bands have demonstrated since the likes of Anaal Nathrakh.

At not long over half an hour, Disassociation doesn’t outstay its welcome and is a pretty promising debut./o:p