Blood Red Throne-Come Death

Earache
2007

There are two things that often bother me about many death metal bands. One is of course the vocals and that has always been a hang-up for me. Maybe because I grew up on metal singers that sang rather than growled and I liked hearing the vocals rather than being required to just read the lyrics to know what was being grunted. The other one is that a number of death metal bands seem to get so caught up in the chaotic speed that they forget about the oh so important heaviness factor and they forget about the basics of being a metal band. That’s why I pulled away from this style years ago because so many bands were starting to just sound like chaotic noise with no direction or purpose. Okay, the vocals on this album are of the same death metal variety, but not quite as one-dimensional. However the music is something else entirely and it’s actually quite spectacular if you give it a chance. “Come death” has definite elements of early 90’s Florida style death metal such as a direct focus and a strong grasp on keeping things heavy, very heavy. Yet they have also manage to show a good deal of control and they master some stellar pace changes that remind me more of mid-80’s thrash bands. Somehow these styles not only work together, but they compliment each other and give this album a feeling of being a true blending of similar, but different metal genres. I don’t think they have quite perfected this direction yet, but there is no denying that this album is massive in stature and Blood Red Throne are really onto something with their new album. There are moments of filler and parts that make me a little impatient, but they are certainly heading down a track that seems rather promising.