Throats : 'Throats'
Released: 1st February 2010
Label: Holy Roar Records
Having put out a split EP with the rather incredible Maths in 2008, I have been eagerly waiting for a Throats record proper ever since. It was worth it. Oh so very worth it. This is one of those records where one can tell from the get go that you’re in for a treat. At a mere eighteen minutes long, some may complain that it is far too short and not feel like value for money. This is a lie. Throats have packed more into eighteen minutes here than most other bands have in the entire year. Anyhow, when did it become a bad thing to leave people gripping the edge of their seats gasping for more?
Opening up with the crushing “Wake” you can immediately hear the progression of this band. From their early days of Converge-esque dynamics and style, not forgetting brutality, they have brought far more to the table with this effort. Bearing strong elements of grind and various styles of metal, from death to straight up, this is a more mature piece that promises so much more for the future also. “Wake” opens up proceedings, purposefully striding into the room before exploding like a bomb and is over just as fast. “My Hands Are Cold” is liable to grind a new hole in your head, mind and speakers. Part grind, part hardcore and even obscure and jazzy, An Albatross-esque weave in and out of its maniacal glory, this is the sound of one thousand pits across the country rolled into one.
“Fuck Life” could fit perfectly into Converge’s “Jane Doe”, and I feel there is little higher praise I could give to anyone. Ever. Needless to say, it is another brilliant track, which also utilises some death metal melodies and technicality. Fantastic. Next on the menu is the rather unforgiving sounding “Failgiver”, an unrelenting mixture of thundering blastbeats and guitar savagery. The soundtrack of fear. “Something Low This Way Comes” is, well… I struggle to describe it. Combining grinding hardcore and rumbling bass with melodic detail of death with bone crushing accuracy and some fine solos to boot, this is a jaw droppingly stunning piece of music. If you need proof, every hair on my body was standing on end after one minute of it.
Taking us towards the close is similarly magnificent “Oaken/Wait”. Opening with a rapid fire two minutes of face-melting intensity with a healthy dose of old school metal riffage and solos blended into the mix almost as though merely because they can. Not that its done in a showy way. No, this is simply utilising the extent of your influences and talent to make something new, exciting and devastating. Then… then we are lead into a break down so vast it is on a similar scale to Roland Emmerich’s recent “2012”, except this has none of the tediously weepy sentiment, redundant characterisation and general ridiculousness. No, this s underlined by a strength and determination as steely as Sigouney Wearver’s “Ripley” in Alien and perhaps with the same aim. Namely, that of trying to destroying you with all of its willpower. Intense.
Throats are coming to a town near you in the new year. Best open your door to them before they smash their own way in and drag you, kicking and screaming, into their world. Exhilarating doesn’t come close.
Words: James Hoste
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